


You’re What?

by shewritesall



Series: Let the World Know [1]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers Family, Cliche, Field Trip, Good Dad Tony Stark, Iron Man - Freeform, Protective Avengers, Protective Tony Stark, Spider-Man - Freeform, tony stark is a dad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-06
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-06 08:54:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 56
Words: 60,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15191246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shewritesall/pseuds/shewritesall
Summary: Just a compilation of various scenarios in which Peter's class/Flash discover Peter knows or is related to Tony Stark.  The chapters will not be related to each other unless labelled Part 1 and Part 2 or noted as such.  I hope you enjoy it!





	1. A Bad Time to Intern

Peter wanted nothing more than to die in a black hole.  He was seriously considering letting himself get stabbed tonight on patrol or feigning sickness so May would keep him out of school.  He doubted the last one would work at all since May was rarely fooled easily and the first one was more painful than he would like to admit.  Besides, if he did get stabbed, it would have to be a large stab and it would have to be life threatening.  Otherwise he would heal well enough to still attend school and he didn't want to do that.  He loved his school, he really did.  There was just one thing: his school, the place where smart people were supposed to be, was making the stupidest decision Peter had ever heard of: they were going on a field trip to Stark Tower.  Tomorrow.  For the entire day.

He had the permission slip in his backpack for May to sign when he got home.  Maybe he could just hide it and tell his teacher he forgot to get it signed.  However, he knew the teacher would then just call May and ask her for permission.  That would bring a bigger headache than he wanted because May would scold him for "forgetting" to let her sign it and Flash would accuse him of having a fake internship the whole time.  As badly as he wanted to prove Flash wrong, he didn't want to deal with Mr. Stark embarrassing him the whole trip.

"What do you think, Karen?"  Peter asked, legs swinging off a fire escape of a tall building.  He was eating his sandwich from Mr. Delmar and telling Karen his problems.  It was a routine thing to do while he waited for criminals to appear.

"I think you should just tell Mr. Stark and ask him not to embarrass you,"  Karen replied.  Peter snorted and shook his head.

"You must not know Mr. Stark if you think he wouldn't embarrass me if I asked him,"  Peter said.  He sighed and finished off his sandwich.  "It would just be worse,"  he told her with his mouth full.  He grabbed his trash and swung off the building.  He threw the garbage in the bin nearby then swung off through Queens, talking to Karen and looking for crime.

* * *

Peter tried telling May he was sick, but she saw right through him.  She knew he didn't want to go and so she able to tell him he was a liar without any guilt.  She sent him out the door to meet the bus with a piece of peanut butter toast and an apple.  Arguing over whether or not Peter was sick had taken enough time he was going to be late if he didn't hurry, so he ran to the bus.  He made it just in time and raced on board, sitting down in his regular seat and pulling out his headphones.  He wanted to talk to Karen, but he couldn't pull out his mask on the bus and it would look weird if someone saw him talking to himself on the phone. Instead, he contented himself with music, eating, and looking out the window at New York as they drove to school.

"Are you ready for today?"  Ned asked as they climbed off the bus only to load another one.  Peter shook his head and sat down on the second bus.  He had finished his toast and just started his apple. 

"At my funeral, make sure to mention how it was all May's fault since she made me go,"  Peter said.  Ned gave him a sad smile and Peter sighed, putting his head back against the window.  He looked back up when he felt someone sit down beside him, but wasn't too surprised to Michelle beside him.  She didn't even look up at him from her book as she gave a quiet 'hey, loser' and continued reading.  Peter just shrugged and went back to leaning against the window with his eyes closed.

"Hey, Penis!"  Flash yelled.  Peter's eyes snapped open and he sat up, spotting Flash a few seats back.  "Now we finally get to watch you die of embarrassment when Mr. Stark calls you out on your lie."

"Whatever, Flash,"  Peter mumbled, laying back.  He put his ear buds in as they drove to Stark Tower.  When they got there, he put his phone and ear buds back in his drawstring bag and followed Michelle off the bus.  Ned followed him and the three of them stood off to the side of the main group while they waited for everyone to unload.

"Alright, everyone," Miss Hendy said, clapping to get everyone's attention.  "Follow me inside where we'll get our security badges and meet our guide."  She turned and the group of teens followed her into the lobby.  They were directed over to another woman who Peter recognised immediately.  He tried to hide behind Ned, but it was no use.  After giving everyone a badge, she asked if everyone had gotten one.

"Peter didn't!"  Flash said, pointing to Peter.  Olivia frowned and looked around.  When she saw Peter, she smiled.

"Hey, Peter,"  she said.  Peter gave her a small smile and nodded, hating the feeling of having everyone's eyes on him.  "Do you need a badge or do you have your own still?"

"It's in my bag,"  Peter told her.  She grinned and nodded, taking the rest of the badges back to the front desk.  Flash glared at Peter but stopped when Olivia returned to give them a basic security speech.

"Everyone needs to have their badges on and easy to see at all times,"  Olivia said.  A few people adjusted theirs so you could actually see it and Olivia continued.  "Our head of security is kind of strict about that and won't hesitate to question you if he doesn't see them.  Now, some of the things we will visit are labs and various invention models, so please be very careful.  As long as you don't touch anything, you should be fine.  Follow me through the scanner and scan your badges."  Olivia scanned her badge and everyone watched as the gate light turned green and she walked through.

"Olivia Foss, level 6 clearance,"  FRIDAY announced.  Apparently everyone thought that was the coolest thing because they all ooh'd.  Peter refrained from rolling his eyes, waiting as long as possible to scan his badge.

"Guest, level 2 clearance,"  FRIDAY announced when Ned went through.  Everyone had the same badges, so hearing FRIDAY say the same thing 54 times in a row was getting on Peter's nerves.  Finally, Peter had to go.  He pulled out his badge and scanned it, hurrying through to stand with Ned and Michelle.  "Welcome back, Peter.  Mr. Stark is currently in a meeting.  Should I alert him you are here early?"  FRIDAY asked.

"No!"  Peter said quickly.  "That's fine.  I want to surprise him."

"Alright,"  FRIDAY replied.  Peter let out a breath when she didn't call out his clearance level.  Olivia was an intern and if she only had level 6 while Peter had level 10—full clearance—people would be suspicious.

"Alright, everyone,"  Olivia said, drawing their attention away from FRIDAY and Peter.  "Follow me to our first destination."

* * *

Peter thought the trip had gone pretty well.  Olivia hadn't said anything to him that would indicate he wasn't really an intern and he hadn't run into Miss Potts or Mr. Stark.  There was only half an hour more before they would be heading back to school and Peter felt very successful.  He really wished he hadn't jinxed himself, though, because he had barely finished congratulating himself when Olivia announced they would now be meeting Mr. Stark.  Peter was back to wanting to die in a hole.

"Kill me now,"  Peter whispered to Ned.  Ned gave him a sorry smile and let Peter hide behind him in the back of the room.

"Hello, Midtown Tech,"  Mr. Stark said, smiling and scanning the crowd.  He frowned just a bit when he didn't see Peter.  "How have you enjoyed your tour?"

"It was actually pretty good,"  Peter admitted to Ned.  Ned glanced back at him and nodded.  Mr. Stark noticed and Peter cursed, trying to duck behind Ned again.

"For the next half hour, you can ask me anything and I'll answer them all truthfully,"  Mr. Stark said, looking directly at Ned who he now knew was hiding Peter.  Ned looked like a deer in headlights.  "Who's first?"  Flash's hand shot up and Mr. Stark called on him.

"Do you really have an internship program for high school students?"  he asked.  Mr. Stark frowned and shook his head. 

"No,"  he replied.  "Internships are only available to college graduates and sometimes undergrads."  Flash looked victorious and he turned around to grin at Peter. 

"I knew you were lying, Penis Parker!"  Flash yelled.  Peter's eyes widened and Mr. Stark's narrowed.

"What did you call him?"  Mr. Stark asked quietly.  Flash heard him and turned to look at Mr. Stark.  He suddenly looked nervous as Mr. Stark all but glared at him.

"Um, I just, uh, it's a joke?"  Flash said.  Mr. Stark didn't believe him.  He looked at Peter who was frozen, not sure how to go about explaining what had just happened to Mr. Stark without Flash become an extinct species.

"Yeah, it's a joke,"  Peter said.  Mr. Stark rolled his eyes and pointed at Flash.

"If I ever hear you call my kid 'Penis' again, I will make sure you don't get into any reputable college, understand?"  he threatened.  Flash looked like he was about to cry, but he nodded quickly.  "Good."

"Did you say Peter was your kid?"  Betty asked, raising her hand as she spoke.

"Yes, he's my personal intern and my kid,"  Mr. Stark said.  He smiled at Peter who gave a short smile back.  Too many eyes were on him and he wanted to disappear.  Mr. Stark must have senses this because he turned to Miss Hendy.  "Do you mind if I keep him?  He'll be coming back anyway and his aunt will be fine with it."

"O-Of course,"  Miss Hendy nodded.  Mr. Stark looked back at Peter and sent him upstairs.

"Pepper's up there,"  he said.  Peter nodded and raced out of the room without a goodbye to anyone.  He got in the elevator and rode it up to the penthouse where Pepper was.

"Did Tony embarrass you?"  Pepper asked immediately.  Peter shook his head and smiled, his senses calming down now that he was out of everyone's gaze.

"He called me his kid,"  Peter said, unable to stop the smile that spread on his face.


	2. Avengers Fair: Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter is less than thrilled when his Dad announces he and the team will be visiting the school and running a three day, after school fair for the students.

Peter couldn’t believe his luck.  According to Mr. Haan, the Avengers would be doing an after school fair from Wednesday to Friday.  Not only would it be open to all high school students, but it was mandatory for those in Mr. Haan’s class.  He believes whatever the Avengers would be teaching or showing them during the three day fair would be vital to their science class.  Peter wasn’t sure how he came to this conclusion as they were studying algae and fungi at the moment, but perhaps Bruce had something related.  He doubted Clint and Sam would, though, and was annoyed to find the two bickering in the living room of the Compound when he arrived after school.  They seemed to be arguing about waffles and pancakes, but Peter was trying his best to ignore them and find his dad so he could beg him to cancel the fair. 

“Peter, it’ll be fun!”  Tony said, not looking up from where he was upgrading his Iron Man suit.  Peter had just explained the problem and how everyone was bound to find out he was Tony’s son.  Besides, the team would embarrass him and Peter didn’t need to give Flash any more reason to bully him.  He kept the last part to himself. 

“No it won’t, Dad!”  Peter groaned, voice muffled by the lab couch’s pillows.  Bruce smiled, glancing up from his work and look at Peter for a moment.  “I’m gonna die.” 

“You’ll be fine,”  Tony told him.  He uploaded the new programming to his suit and scooted his chair back across the lab to Peter.  “If the team embarrasses you, I give you full permission to embarrass them.” 

“There no way I’d come out the winner,”  Peter said.  Tony would have objected, but he realised Peter was right. 

“Fine,”  he said.  He returned to his desk and typed something in quickly.  “If they embarrass you too much, tell me and I’ll embarrass them for you.”  It wasn’t a fail proof plan, but at least Tony could embarrass the team without risk of ruining his entire academic career.  Peter didn’t respond, so Tony took that as an ‘ok’.  He finished up his work then he and Peter returned to the Tower for the night where Pepper was waiting up for them. 

“It’ll be alright,”  Pepper assured Peter after he told her about the Avengers coming to his school.  She kissed his head then sent him to his room. 

“Good night, Mom!”  Peter said, waving as he walked down the hall. 

“Good night, Peter,”  Pepper replied, waving back. 

* * *

Peter had been enduring Flash’s endless taunts all day.  It was the first day of the mandatory, after school Avengers Fair and Peter was really wishing he had been killed with a dodgeball during PE.  Thanks to Ned telling Flash that Peter personally knew all the Avengers, not just Tony Stark, three months ago, Flash had been excited to prove them both wrong.  Plus, seeing Peter’s face red with embarrassment when the Avengers denied knowing him in front of most of the student body was something Flash had been dreaming of ever since Ned’s little announcement.  Peter was dreading it and Ned was regretting having said that now that he knew Flash was going to be asking every Avengers if they knew them. 

“Maybe I can sneak off,”  Peter suggested to Ned as they walked down the steps. 

“Don’t even think about it, Peter,”  Mr. Haan said from behind them.  Peter felt his face heat up.  He should have realised Mr. Haan was behind them. 

“We can just hang out with Bruce Banner, right?”  Ned asked.  He had never met Bruce, but he had seen him in the Tower living room a couple of times when he’d gone to Peter’s house.  He had always wanted to meet him as Bruce was Ned’s favourite living scientist. 

“I’m sure Uncle Bruce wouldn’t mind,”  Peter said.  Ned looked ecstatic and Peter felt bad about having to burst his bubble.  “But there’s probably rotations so we’ll have to move around.”  Ned’s face dropped and they stopped behind a group of students.  Peter frowned and stood on his tip toes to see what they were looking at.  It was the Avengers.  The students had stopped to stare at the Avengers struggling to put up a tent.  Really, it was Thor and Tony struggling to put up a tent while Natasha and Wanda ate popcorn, watching them struggle.  Peter was able to hear Natasha mumble something in Russian to Wanda and she quickly used her magic to set up the tent.  Thor and Tony looked victorious until they realised what had happened. 

“Students,”  Natasha told Tony, continuing to eat her popcorn.  Tony spun around and grinned when he noticed all the teenagers standing in front of him.  He spotted Peter and Ned and his smile flashed from ‘regular press smile’ to ‘encouraging dad smile’ for just a second, but Peter saw it and smiled back. 

“Welcome to the first Avengers Fair!”  Tony said, clapping.  The students followed suit and clapped as well.  “I know you already know me, so I’ll introduce you to the others.”  Tony pulled each Avengers forward and whispers erupted through the crowd.  Peter could hear them all and by the look on Wanda’s face, she was hearing their minds.  When she saw Peter, she gave him a tight smile and he nodded at her.  Once they were all introduced, Tony told them what each station would be and which Avengers would be running it.  Apparently Mr. Haan had already divided them into groups of 20 students, so he told them their group number and starting station, sending them on their way.  Unfortunately, Ned and Peter were split and Flash was in Peter’s group.  They were starting at Steve’s station which happened to be a course on how to be a good person and improve the world.  At least, that’s what Peter’s impression was.  He wasn’t sure what Steve was actually calling it. 

“Alright, I’m Steve Rogers,”  Steve said, making sure everyone could see and hear him.  He gave them a lecture for an hour before the air horn sounded and they rotated to the next station.  It happened that Clint and Natasha were their next station. 

“Welcome, everyone,”  Natasha said, staying behind the table.  Peter knew she wasn’t fond of large groups of teens.  If he had friends over—even if it was just Ned and MJ—she would disappear until they were gone.  He was honestly surprised she had appeared on the school grounds at all. 

“You’re the Black Widow!”  a girl exclaimed from Peter’s left.  Natasha nodded. 

“And you’re in high school,”  she said.  The girl turned red and nodded, turning to her friend to hide.  “This is Clint; ignore him as he’s useless right now and in a quiet contest with Sam.”  Peter glanced at Clint to see his mouth tightly closed as he glared at Sam. 

“Are we gonna learn how to fight?”  a boy asked.  Natasha frowned and shook her head. 

“Stark said I wasn’t allowed to do that,”  she answered.  Peter smirked and Natasha glared at him.  Flash noticed and quickly turned to look at Peter.  Natasha called for their attention again.  “However, no one said I couldn’t teach you how to be a good spy.” 

“We’re gonna be spies?”  Abraham asked.  Natasha nodded.  “That’s so cool,”  he said quietly, his voice going up two octaves. 

“Great, I'm gonna need a volunteer,”  Natasha said.  A few hands shot up, but Natasha called on Peter.  “You.  Curly haired behind your friend.”  Peter tried to hide but Natasha rolled her eyes.  “Peter, get up here.” 

“ _Aunt Natalia_ ,”  Peter hissed in Russian, moving forward to stand beside her behind the table.  “ _Don’t embarrass me_.” 

“ _I won’t_ ,”  she promised, grinning. “ _You’re helping me embarrass Clint and Sam_.”

 

_To be continued..._


	3. Avengers Fair: Part 2

Clint and Sam refused to let Natasha and Peter forget what they had done.  The rest of the night at the Tower, they complained and brought it up every chance they had.  Natasha had made them stop after the third hour but Peter still received ugly looks.  He didn’t care, though.  It had totally been worth the risk of being impaled by an arrow just to see Clint covered in purple glitter and pink colour powder.  Sam had managed to avoid the pink, but found himself covered in green seconds later.  Needless to say, Peter managed to sneak up on both of them and Natasha had made it clear how proud she was.  She had bought him ice cream and promised more the next evening. 

“You just wait until tomorrow when you come to my station, Stark,”  Sam warned.  Peter just shrugged, not that worried.  “You better watch your back.” 

“Why?  Cause Redwing will follow me?”  Peter asked.  Natasha grinned as Sam glared at him.  Sam stalked off into the kitchen to find comfort food while Clint continued to read with his hearing aids out. 

“Peter?  Go to bed,”  Pepper yelled from her office in the penthouse.  Peter paled and raced off to his room.  He was supposed to be in bed an hour ago and he didn’t need his mom on his case for staying up past midnight on a school night. 

“Watch your back!”  Sam yelled, mouth full of graham crackers.  Peter flipped him off and Sam screeched.  Peter was in his room before Steve or Pepper could get mad at him. 

* * *

The next day after school, they were split back up in their groups and told to start at the station to the left of the one they had last been at the day before.  Peter tried to stay in the back during Wanda’s station, his first stop, and Wanda left him alone.  She didn’t need to ask him to know he didn’t want to be called out; she could hear his mind begging her to ignore him.  She did and happily gave everyone a short history on the tesseract, how she had gotten her powers, and what had happened in Sokovia.  Peter found some of it interesting, but he already knew everything about Sokovia so he just tuned that part out.  Wanda let them go to their next station as soon as the air horn blew and Peter was very upset to learn Sam and Rhodey were his next stop.  Hopefully Rhodey would leave him be and protect him from Sam, but based on the look Rhodey was giving him, Peter was screwed and on his own. 

“Welcome, everyone,”  Sam said.  They gathered around and Sam introduced himself then allowed Rhodey to introduce himself.  “We’re going to be creating plans for some sort of flight vessel.  As you know, I have wings.  Rhodey has a fancy Iron Man suit.  We want you to create a design in twenty minutes then we’ll call on some of you to present it.  Best one wins.”  Everyone grabbed paper and began sketching out designs.  Some paired up, but Peter stayed by himself.  He went up to Rhodey and tapped on his arm. 

“Is the prize good?”  he asked.  Rhodey nodded enthusiastically.  “Like, I want to win or I don’t?” 

“You want to win,”  Rhodey told him.  “Trust me.”  Peter did.  He immediately began sketching out a basic idea that he and his dad had created a few days earlier.  Of course, he volunteered to present his idea and Sam happily chose him.  A few others presented then Rhodey announced the winner.  It was Peter. 

“Of course Penis wins,”  Flash mumbled as Peter walked up to Rhodey to collect his prize.  Rhodey directed him to Sam who had something behind his back. 

“Congratulations, kid,”  Sam said.  He smirked and Peter’s spider senses went off.  Before he could escape, Redwing was dumping blue slime on his head.  Peter gasped, closing his eyes as the blue crawled down his head and shoulders, covering him everywhere.  His classmates burst into laughter, Flash’s laugh the loudest.  Peter glared at Sam then pointed accusingly at Rhodey. 

“You said I wanted to win!”  he said.  Rhodey was too busy laughing to reply and Peter wiped some slime off his face.  The air horn blew and the students were dismissed.  Peter jumped on Sam, getting the slime on him as well. 

“Hey!  Get off me!”  Sam yelled, trying to pull Peter off.  Peter wasn’t leaving, though.  He pulled slime from his hair and rubbed it into Sam’s.  Eventually Natasha and Wanda came running over.  Wanda pulled Peter off Sam with her magic but Peter continued to fume. 

“You’re the worst uncle ever,”  Peter told Sam.  He didn’t take it to heart, though, knowing Peter was just kidding.  When Tony and Bruce came over to see what had happened, they laughed as well.  Only Steve took Peter to go get cleaned up then scolded Rhodey and Sam for embarrassing Peter. 

“We’re supposed to pretend we don’t know him,”  Steve reminded them.  Peter was now wearing his gym clothes with soaked hair.  He was still glaring at Sam. “We don’t want anyone finding out he’s related to us or knows us.” 

“Fine, fine,”  Sam said, sighing and muttering a fake apology to Peter.  Peter just mocked him quietly and Tony sent him to the car.  Soon they were headed back to the Tower where Steve sat them all down and made everyone promise all prank wars and embarrassing stories would stay in the Tower.  Peter was both pleased and upset, but they all agreed. 

 

_To be continued..._


	4. Avengers Fair: Part 3

The third and final day consisted entirely of Bruce and Tony’s station.  The two scientists had developed a device a few days earlier for the students to test out.  They were also able to come up with ideas on how to help with Bruce’s latest project.  Bruce and Tony purposely left fifteen minutes at the end for a question and answer session.  Peter didn’t bother asking them anything and stayed in the back.  Ned moved forward so he could be closer to Bruce and have a higher chance of getting a question asked.  Peter listened in on Natasha’s presentation again and wasn’t paying attention to what was being asked until he heard his name.  His head snapped forward and he saw Flash looking at him with a smug look.  Tony looked a little unsure and Bruce was just staring at him in shock. 

“Um, no, I do not know Peter,”  Tony said, giving Peter a cautious glance.  They hadn’t discussed how to go about answering that question.  However, Tony knew he’d messed up when Flash looked victoriously at Peter. 

“Ha!  I knew you were lying, Penis!”  Flash yelled, pointing at Peter then pumping his hands.  He stopped when he saw Tony looking very angry.  Peter couldn’t move, staring at Bruce and hoping he wouldn’t turn green.  It looked like he was struggling. 

“What did you just call my son?”  Tony asked lowly.  Flash’s face dropped and he began to stutter. 

“Y-Your s-son?”  Flash whimpered.  Tony didn’t move, giving Flash a dark look.  “I-It’s a j-joke. We’re b-best f-friends.” 

“I have to go,”  Bruce muttered, stumbling away and running towards Wanda’s booth.  The team had quickly discovered that Wanda could calm Bruce by entering his mind and drawing forth calming memories.  They often took advantage of this fact. 

“Peter, explain,”  Tony said, looking at Peter.  Peter still couldn’t seem to move and his mouth was dry. 

“F-Flash is a f-friend?”  Peter tried.  He knew his dad wouldn’t leave Flash breathing if he admitted Flash regularly bullied him. 

“Yeah, now the truth?”  Tony asked, obviously not believing Peter’s lie.  Peter didn’t say a word, but Tony didn’t need Peter to say anything to know what was actually going on.  “I’ve never heard of you before, boy, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know you bully him.” 

“I-I don’t, s-sir,”  Flash whimpered.  Tony didn’t believe it. 

“I’m gonna count to three and if you’re in my sight, I’m gonna get in my suit and make sure you won’t be coming to school for months,”  Tony threatened.  Flash nodded and ran before Tony even started counting.  He was off school grounds by the time Tony reached three.  “Get out of my sight,”  Tony told the students.  They raced off and Peter was left standing in front of Tony. 

“Dad, please don’t do anything,”  Peter said, rushing forward to stop Tony from searching out Flash. 

“You never told me you were being bullied,”  Tony said.  Peter fiddled with his hands.  “Peter, did you tell anyone?” 

“No,”  Peter said.  Tony sighed and ran his hand through his hair.  “But can you blame me?  If any of you found out, you’d kill him and I don’t want you to kill him.” 

“Peter, you still should have told someone,”  Tony said.  Peter gave him a look. 

“Well now you know,”  Peter told him.  Before Tony could reply, Natasha and Clint came running over and asked what had happened. 

“Peter’s being bullied,”  Tony said.  Clint frowned and Natasha’s gaze darkened.  “He didn’t tell us because he didn’t want us to kill the boy.” 

“I’m gonna kill him anyway,”  Natasha said, looking around for someone cowering in fear.  It didn’t help with her killer glare as everyone cowered at it.  “Where is he?” 

“He ran off when I threatened him,”  Tony said.  Natasha started chewing him out in Russian and Peter tried not to listen. 

“It’s not a big deal,”  Peter exclaimed, stopping Natasha from starting a search and kill mission.  “Now that Dad spilled the beans about me being his son I doubt he’ll bother me anymore.” 

“You told them?”  Clint asked, surprised that Tony had so quickly told their secret.

”He called Peter Penis!”  Tony said.  Bruce had just been returning and had to turn back to Wanda who quickly went back to calming him down.

“Who did?”  Sam demanded, crossing his arms as he, Rhodey, and Steve who were joining them to find out what the problem was about.

“A kid that’s been bullying him,”  Clint said.  Bruce groaned and Wanda glared at everyone, working her magic to calm him back down again.

“Can we not mention it right now?”  Bruce said, fighting the green on his neck.

“Where’s he at?”  Sam asked, glaring at everyone around.

“He’s a coward,”  Natasha spit out.  “He ran when Tony threatened him.”

“I would have too,”  Rhodey admitted.  The team gave him strange looks and he raised an eyebrow.  “Dude bullied his kid.  I wouldn’t want to be around that.” 

“Can we just forget it?  He’ll leave me alone now,”  Peter said.  “He knows I’m related to Dad now.”  The team didn’t look like they wanted to drop it.  “You’re stressing out Uncle Bruce and I want ice cream.” 

“Fine,”  Tony said.  He gave Peter a sharp look.  “This conversation isn’t over, though.”  Peter was already walking back to the car. 

“Of course it isn’t,”  he muttered.  Tony frowned. 

“What was that?”  he asked.  Peter’s eyes widened and he continued towards the car. 

“Nothing, Dad!”  he called back. 


	5. Auntie Tasha Isn’t Fooled

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aunt Natasha picks up Peter from school. It’s a good thing Steve went with her.

Natasha was excited.  She hadn’t seen Peter in a long time due to long missions and Peter being gone on vacation when she was in town.  Once Tony had introduced the easy excitable teen to her, the two had become good friends.  Natasha often acted as a protective mother to him and Peter always went to her whenever he had problems and didn’t want to go to Tony.  She had even started teaching him basic Russian so he could understand the terms of endearment she used.  No one else bothered to learn them, knowing Natasha would kill them if they did. 

“When does school get out again?”  Natasha asked for the third time.  Steve had never seen her so excited for something.  He couldn’t help but smile as she anxiously watched the front doors for Peter. 

“Ten minutes,”  Steve told her.  She nodded and glanced at her watch.  She was practically bouncing in her seat.  When the front door opened, she gasped and looked for Peter.  It was just a young kid with their mom leaving early.  She huffed in annoyance but kept her eyes on the doors.  Finally, the doors opened and students began streaming out of the doors.  Natasha eagerly watched for Peter, expecting him to be one of the first ones out.  She had texted him ahead of time so he knew she was picking him up.  He had seemed excited, texting in all caps, but now he was nowhere in sight. 

“Something’s wrong,”  Natasha said, after two minutes of not seeing Peter. 

“Give him five more minutes,”  Steve said, reaching to stop her from getting out of the car.  “His teacher might be talking to him after class.”  Natasha frowned but stayed put.  She waited ten minutes before jumping out of the car.  Steve sighed but followed her into the school.  Some kids gave them surprised looks while others stopped to stare as they passed.  Natasha didn’t seem to notice as she searched the school for Peter.  It was nearly empty as most kids were anxious to leave except for those in clubs. 

“He’s not here,”  Natasha muttered, searching in the last classroom he had been in.  She continued to search in every room, not caring how many clubs she disrupted. 

“Nat, you gotta stop barging into clubs,”  Steve said.  Natasha rolled her eyes, but stopped.  Instead she just peered into the door windows.  “Where is he?”  Steve muttered to himself.  Natasha peered into another room and Steve felt her mood darken.  She threw open the door and Steve followed.  He wasn’t expecting to see Peter being held down by two boys while another one punched the life out of him. 

“What do you think you’re doing?”  Natasha asked sweetly.  Steve held back a shudder at her voice and the three boys turned to look at her.  They looked rightfully terrified.  “Get out.”  They didn’t wait to be told twice.  Natasha rushed over to Peter who was trying not to cry. 

“I’m fine, Aunt Tasha,”  Peter said, grimacing as he stood up.  Natasha didn’t believe him.  “Just a little bruised.” 

“Peter, how long have they been bullying you?”  Natasha asked, checking him over for any bleeding or other injuries. 

“All year,”  Peter muttered.  Natasha’s eyes widened and Peter scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.  “And the year before that.” 

“Peter!”  Natasha exclaimed.  Peter looked at the ground and Natasha sighed.  “Does your dad know?”  Peter shook his head quickly, looking back up with wide eyes. 

“Please don’t tell him!”  he exclaimed.  “He’ll make me change schools and I love it here.” 

“You’re being bullied,”  Natasha reminded him.  Peter sighed and gave her puppy dog eyes.  Natasha glared at him, but he won.  “Fine.  But I’m talking to the principal and that kid that was punching you.  And I want to know every time he so much as looks at you, okay?” 

“Okay,”  Peter agreed.  He would convince her not to talk to Flash later, but right now he just wanted to go home.  “Can we go home now?” 

“Yeah,”  Natasha said, nodding.  She wrapped an arm around Peter’s shoulders and Steve followed them back to the car. They ended up going out and walking around New York until late into the night, but no one said anything when they got back to the Tower.  Natasha and Peter watched movies until morning and Natasha called the school to say Peter wouldn’t be coming in the next day.  Why?  Because the Black Widow said so. 


	6. Stark’s A What Now?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Avengers discover a big secret of Tony’s on accident. Good thing half of them are spies and know how to keep quiet.

Tony Stark was annoyed.  Steve had called a last minute Avengers meeting which normally wouldn’t have been that big of a deal, but Tony was supposed to be somewhere else right now.  If it had been a business meeting with Stark Industries, Tony would have happily gone to the Avengers’ meeting.  No, he was supposed to be with his son Peter for his 7th birthday party.  They were going to Disneyworld and right now they were late for their plane.  Tony was trying to get Steve to finish up the meeting, but he didn’t feel like he was getting anywhere. Eventually, Natasha decided to bring everyone’s attention to Tony by asking what he was in such a hurry for and why he kept checking his watch. 

“I’m a little late for something right now,”  Tony told them, leaning back in his chair. “I have a plane due to fly out in negative ten minutes, so if we could finish this, that would be fabulous.”  Clint snorted. 

“Got a date with Pepper?”  he asked, smirking.  “You’re never in a hurry for meetings.” 

“Pepper is going to have my head, actually, if I’m not there soon,”  Tony answered.  Clint rolled his eyes and Steve sighed, promising to finish up soon.  Steve’s soon wasn’t soon enough, though, because he had barely started back on their last subject when the door flew open.  Tony grinned as Peter shot across the room and over to where Tony was sitting. 

“Come on, Daddy,”  he said, tugging on Tony’s sleeve.  “We’re late and Mommy’s getting mad.”  Tony glanced up at Steve who was wide eyed and open mouthed.  He stood up and swung Peter up into his arms. 

“That’s my cue,”  Tony announced, holding Peter and kissing his cheek.  Peter giggled and pushed Tony’s face away. 

“Scratchy,”  he giggled.  Tony smiled and rubbed his face against Peter’s.  It had been a day since he’d last shaved as this morning had been a lot more hectic than expected.  Peter squealed and tried pushing Tony’s face away, causing Tony to laugh.  He pulled back and looked down at the team.  They were all looking very surprised to see Tony with a kid.  All except Natasha, that is, who had met him before. 

“Hey, Peter,”  she smiled.  Peter grinned and waved at her. 

“Hi, Auntie Tasha!”  he said happily.  He squirmed our of Tony’s arms and ran around the table to hug her.  She picked him up and set him on her lap.  He wrapped his arms around her neck tightly then kissed her cheek.  “Guess what, Auntie Tasha?  We’re going to Disneyworld for my birthday!” 

“Really?  How fun!”  Natasha exclaimed.  Peter nodded, seemingly unaware of the others’s stares.  “Well, go with your dad. You’re gonna be late if you stay much longer.” 

“Okay,”  Peter said.  He jumped off Natasha’s lap and raced back over to Tony.  Tony grabbed Peter’s hand and waved over his shoulder at the team as he walked out the door.  It took everyone fifteen seconds to recover. 

“What was that?”  Bruce asked, looking at Natasha.  She just smiled, glancing at the closed door that Tony and Peter had just walked out of. 

“Tony has a son named Peter,”  Natasha told them.  She pointed to the door.  “That was him.  He’s turning seven.” 

“Tony’s a father?”  Steve asked.  Natasha nodded and Clint seemed to snap out of his daze. 

“Stark’s a what now?”  he asked, eyes wide as he looked at Natasha for clarification.  She just smirked and told him to stick to his arrows. 

“You’re not very good with sudden shocks,”  she said. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short little something to keep you entertained for a while. I probably won’t be updating again for a day or two since tomorrow I have a lot of things to do. Hope you enjoyed this!


	7. I’m Sorry, He’s Clingy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter decides to make an appearance in the middle of one of Tony’s press conferences.

Tony was trying to do a press conference.  It shouldn’t have been difficult—they usually weren’t—but Peter was backstage with Happy and Tony kept glancing back at him.  Pepper was gone on a business trip and had conveniently forgotten about Tony’s scheduled press conference.  That meant Tony had to stick Peter with Happy who became a last minute babysitter.  Tony knew Happy didn’t like kids and Peter was pretty energetic, but he had no other option.  Of course, he could take the three year old with him, but he did not want his son in the eyes of the press until he was at least 34, so that idea was off the table.  It was the only thing Tony had to tell Happy in order to get him to agree to watching Peter.  Despite how much Happy didn’t like kids, he didn’t want Peter to be exposed to the press at such a young age.  Tony knew first hand how awful it was to be a kid and be in the press. 

“Mr. Stark, can you tell us about your latest project?  I believe you announced plans for cleaning the bay,”  a reporter said.  Tony nodded, tearing his eyes off Peter who had been happily showing him one of his toys. 

“Yes, the idea was inspired by those tiny little things that live in the mouth of some fish,”  Tony said.  He struggled to accurately explain the idea when he kept looking back at Peter.  “So, yeah,”  he finished.  He got a few blank stares and confused looks.  “Next question?” 

“Yes, is Miss Potts behind stage because you seem distracted?”  a man asked.  Tony refused the urge to glance back. 

“No, she’s in Miami right now,”  Tony replied.  The man asked who was distracted Tony.  “No one.  Next question?”  A few reporters looked at each other in confusion and one slowly raised her hand. 

“Is it true that—”  She was interrupted by something colliding with Tony’s leg.  He almost toppled over, one hand reaching down to grab the tiny person and the other reaching for the podium to steady himself.  The room went dead silent. 

“Uncle Happy told me to shut up,”  Peter said, face buried in Tony’s leg.  Tony knelt down and Peter let him go.  He sniffled and Tony glanced up at Happy who knew he was dead. 

“Did he?”  Tony asked, still looking at Happy.  Happy rolled his eyes. 

‘He was being too loud,’  he mouthed.  Now Tony rolled his eyes.  He picked Peter up and walked off stage.  “He was too loud.” 

“You don’t tell him to shut up,”  Tony said.  Peter poked Tony’s chin and Tony gently pushed his hand down.  “Nicely say be quieter.”  Happy mocked him and Tony gave him a look. 

“Sorry,”  Happy said.  Tony turned Peter in his arms so he was facing Happy.  Peter grinned at him and Happy wanted to glare at the three year old. 

“Don’t say sorry to me, say it to Peter,”  Tony told him.  Happy gave him a disbelieving look, but Tony didn’t budge. After realising Tony wasn’t kidding, he sighed. 

“I’m sorry, Peter,”  he said.  Peter leaned forward and kissed his nose before Happy knew what was happening. 

“It’s okay!”  he cheered.  He hugged Tony’s neck and looked over his back at the crowd of reporters.  They had begun to talk amongst themselves, trying to figure out what had just happened.  “Daddy, I'm hungry.” 

“Alright,”  Tony said.  He glanced at Happy.  “Go start the car.  I’ll finish up here.” 

“Do you want me to take Peter?”  Happy asked.  Tony glanced at Peter then shook his head.  Happy didn’t ask again.  He shot off towards the car while Tony stepped back on stage just enough so that everyone could see him. 

“Conference is over,”  he announced.  “Show yourselves out.”  He turned back around and went through the back door.  Happy was waiting for him in the car and Tony slid in the backseat with Peter.  He fastened Peter into his car seat then asked what he wanted for lunch. 

“French fries!”  Peter squealed.  Tony nodded and told Happy to find the nearest McDonalds, they were going to have French fries for lunch. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! I know this is a little short and not exactly a reveal, but I thought it was a cute way to get Peter out to the press just a little. Hope you enjoyed it!


	8. That Was My Son

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Contains Infinity War spoilers, kinda. Like, I changed some things and you’ll see what, but there are still kinda spoilers. It’s the whole dust thing, so be aware of that. I was told to put a MCD warning, so here’s your warning that someone dies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say, I’m sorry and I hope you don’t want to kill me too much after this chapter. It was inspired by the chorus of the song “Follow You Into the Dark” by Death Cab for Cutie. It’s actually a really good song, so you should go listen to it... if you don’t die first.

Tony couldn’t breath.  He knew his chest was rising and falling, quite rapidly too, but he didn’t feel like he had oxygen in his lungs.  He was suffocating.  He felt trapped and there was no way to escape it.  Everything was getting blurry, his face felt hot, and his nose tingled.  He felt the tears only after they had dripped onto his hands, but didn’t make a move to wipe them off.  He didn’t have the energy or strength in his body to do anything but stare at the ground beneath him.  He couldn’t even stand, his hands stretched out in front of him, empty. 

“Stark?”  Tony wasn’t sure which direction the voice had come from.  He had barely been able to hear it over the blood pumping in his ears and the silence surrounding him.  He wasn’t sure if it was actually silent or not.  He wasn’t sure what was real anymore. 

“I—he—”  Tony felt more tears fall from his eyes and he shakily stood up.  He struggled to balance himself as he clutched his fists tightly, refusing to let go of what little he had left.  The dust felt cold in his hands, but he wouldn’t drop it. 

“What did you do?”  Okoye screamed, turning angrily at Thanos.  Tony opened his palms, looking down at the grey dust in his hands then closing them again. 

“This is only the beginning,”  Thanos said.  He began to laugh, looking down at the small team that was left.  Tony felt his blood run cold and he slowly looked up at Thanos.  All he could see was a purple blur due to his tears.  He forced them back so he could clearly make out every detail of Thanos’s face.  

He moved forward slowly.  Steve could have stopped him easily, but he either didn’t want to or was too busy mourning his loss to care what Tony did.  Tony wouldn’t have let Steve stop him anyway as he marched up to Thanos.  The purple giant was easily twice as tall as him and Tony had to crane his neck up to meet Thanos’s eyes, but he didn’t seem afraid.  In fact, he seemed angrier up close than from a distance.  He could do nothing but flare up at the giant that was slowly stopping his laughter.  His smug smile stayed on his face, though, as he leaned down to look at Tony. 

“Are you gonna make me bring them back, tiny man?”  Thanos taunted.  Tony’s eyes narrowed and he stepped closer to Thanos. 

“I don’t know what you did, but I’m gonna make you regret ever stepping foot on this planet,”  Tony said quietly.  Thanos stayed smiling, amused by Tony’s anger.  He knew he could kill the man in a second now that he was no longer in his suit.  It would have taken barely any longer with the suit on, but at this point, Tony was almost hoping Thanos would kill him.  The only thing that made him want to stay alive was the thought of making him suffer. 

“What are you going to do?”  Thanos asked, laughing lightly.  “Hit me with one of your dolls?  You know you can’t ever beat me.” 

“No,”  Tony agreed.  “I can’t beat you.  But I will make you suffer and wish for death and I will not die until you regret your entire existence.  Do you know why?”  Tony paused to swallow the lump in his throat.  More tears sprang into his eyes and he opened his fists back up to show Thanos what remained of Peter: grey dust that blew away in the slight breeze.  “Because that was my son,”  he said darkly, letting the dust fall from his hands as Thanos stopped laughing and watched the tiny man turn and walk back to his team. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I’m sorry! But seriously, go check out the song “Follow You Into the Dark” by Death Cab for Cutie


	9. Witches & Bullies

Peter was glad his dad was gone.It meant that when he toured the Avengers Compound with his class that the chances of him being embarrassed went down.However, it also meant Flash would likely ask the other Avengers of they knew Peter and Peter wasn't so sure how they would respond.He was hoping they would say something along the lines of "why yes, through the Stark Internship", but he also knew none of them knew that lie and would probably say something stupid like "no."He did make a point of giving them all a short run down on what to do and what not to do during breakfast.They all seemed to understand what was expected of them and promised Peter they would do their best.

"Peter, Happy is waiting for you,"Wanda said, knocking on his door.Peter came rushing out, draw string bag over his shoulder and phone in hand."See you again in two hours."

"Yeah,"Peter said, smiling up at Wanda."Thanks for helping me explain."

"No problem,"she said, pushing him towards the door."Now go!"Peter yelled a goodbye to everyone over his shoulder then raced out the door to meet Happy.Wanda turned back to the living room where she found most of the team lounging around.

"On a scale of one to ten, how poorly do you think today is going to go?"Clint asked.Steve gave him a look over his newspaper but Clint ignored it.

"I'd say maybe a five,"Natasha said, painting her nails on the coffee table."I have faith in us.Maybe not you and Sam—"Clint yelled out in protest."—but the rest of us should be able to fix your mistakes."

"Just don't mess this up for Peter,"Wanda told them, joining Vision on a couch."He's really worried about what other kids will think."

"They always are at that age,"Sam mumbled."Can't we just embarrass him a little?"Wanda gave him a sharp look and he knew that was a no.He sighed but nodded."Fine.I'll just wait until you aren't around."

* * *

Peter could finally breath.The first part of the Avengers Compound tour was finished and they were eating lunch.Peter had managed to find a spot hidden away from the rest of the group and Michelle joined him.Ned had gotten really sick the night before and neither the teacher nor his mom would let him come.Ned wasn't very thrilled about having to stay home instead of visiting the Avengers, but Peter promised to bring him another time.

"Where's your lunch, loser?"Michelle asked, glancing over her book to look at him.

"Forgot it,"he muttered, picking at the wood chips beside him.Michelle sighed and then an apple was being chucked at his head.He would have been hit with it if his reflexes weren't so good and he was pretty sure that was Michelle's intention."Thanks, but I can just run inside and find something,"he told her, looking up at the Avengers Compound.He could see the someone walking around the living room of the Avengers's quarters, but couldn't tell who it was.

"Were you, though?"Michelle asked, knowing the answer.Peter shook his head and thanked her again for the apple.He bit into it and silently looked around the yard at all the other kids.Michelle got up to throw her sack lunch away once she was done, but Peter just chucked the apple core into the woods.As soon as Michelle was gone, though, Flash and his friends appeared.

"What do you want, Flash?"Peter asked tiredly.He really didn't want to put up with Flash's crap today.

"Where's your little pal Tony?Did he ditch you today?"Flash taunted.Peter just picked at the wood chips, hoping Flash would leave if he just ignored him."Hey!I'm talking to you."Flash grabbed his shirt collar and Peter was forced to look up.

"Leave me alone, Flash,"Peter said, pushing him back so he wasn't holding onto his shirt anymore.Flash's breath smelled like egg salad and Peter didn't want it in his face.

"What's wrong, Penis?Scared you'll be rejected by the Avengers when I ask if they know you?"Flash teased.Peter would have responded, but Wanda appeared behind Flash and he grinned.

"You might want to run,"Peter suggested.Flash's eyes narrowed and he leaned over Peter again.

"Are you gonna hurt me?"he cooed.Peter just let Flash grab him.The moment he did, his hands were encased in red and pulled back.Flash stared at his hands in terror and turned around to see Wanda.His two friends had already ditched him, so he was left alone to face the angry witch.

"Are you bullying my cousin?"Wanda asked gently.Peter made a mental note to ask her if Natasha had been giving her lessons on how to act sweet and scary.

"N-No, ma'am,"Flash stuttered, shaking his head quickly."C-Cousin?"Wanda nodded slowly and Flash gulped.

"You aren't going to bother him again, are you?"she asked.Flash's head shook even faster if possible and his eyes were squeezed shut."I won't have to alter your mind, will I?"

"No!"  Flash whimpered, daring to open one eye.  "I promise I'll leave him alone."  Wanda nodded. 

"You will,"  she agreed.  She altered his mind anyway and he went running off.  She watched him leave then turned back to Peter.  "How long has he been bullying you?"  she asked, joining him on the ground.  Peter shrugged. 

"Since the beginning of high school, I guess,"he replied.Wanda frowned."It doesn't really bother me when Ned's around.That's why it started; he was bullying Ned and I wanted him to stop, so he started bullying me.Thanks, though.I really appreciate it."

"Of course,"Wanda said.Peter saw Michelle coming back, head in a book, and Wanda did as well."I'll go.Enjoy the rest of your tour."

"I will,"  Peter promised.  He thanked her again and Wanda flew back to the Compound.  Michelle sat down across from Peter, not saying a word.  Peter shrugged and went back to picking st the wood chips. 

"So, cousin, huh?"Michelle asked.Peter paled and she started laughing.

"Michelle!"he exclaimed, throwing wood chips at her and her book.She just laughed and threw them back.She knew all about Peter and his family, she just liked teasing him about it.


	10. Science Fairs Can Never Be Boring

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce and Tony arrive at Midtown Tech for a science fair.

Peter was prepared.  He had done his science fair project weeks ahead of time then perfected it with Mr. Stark’s help.  He felt completely prepared for the science fair today and it showed.  He couldn’t stop smiling as he stood behind his project, hands clasped behind his back.  The fair would begin in five minutes with two special speakers and then the exhibits were open.  Peter was so excited to show off his idea.  He wished Mr. Stark could have come, but he had another thing.  Besides, he had helped Peter with the project, so he already knew all about it.  Aunt May was coming, though, and she hadn’t seen it yet.  Peter had wanted it to be a surprise for her even if he did tell her absolutely everything he had done with Mr. Stark for his project. 

“Dude, I heard someone say Tony Stark was the guest speaker,”  Ned hissed, running up behind Peter.  Peter’s eyes widened and Ned sat down beside him.  “Someone saw him in the parking lot.” 

“You’re kidding,”  Peter said, sounding more nervous than excited.  As much as he wanted Mr. Stark to come, he didn’t want him to draw attention.  That was nearly impossible when it came to Tony Stark. 

“Nope,”  Ned said.  Peter groaned, closing his eyes and sliding down in his seat.  Seconds later, he felt someone sit down on his other side and opened his eyes to see who it was.  May was smiling on his right. 

“Stark is here,”  she said.  Peter groaned even more and she frowned.  “What’s wrong?  I thought you loved Tony.” 

“I do,”  Peter said.  He sat upright in his chair and sighed.  “It’s just, he’s gonna draw attention to me and I don’t want that.”  May nodded in understanding.  She knew Peter wasn’t one for the spotlight. 

“I’ll talk to him,”  she promised.  Peter smiled thankfully at her as the lights dimmed.  Principal Morita walked on stage and tapped on the mic.  He drew everyone’s attention to him then smiled. 

“It is my pleasure to welcome our keynote speakers today,”  he said.  He stepped to the side as the curtains began to open.  “Please give a warm welcome to Mr. Tony Stark and Dr. Bruce Banner!” 

“Bruce is here?”  Peter exclaimed.  He liked Bruce.  He had helped Peter with Biology lots of time and he seemed to be the only one other than Pepper that could keep Tony under control.  If Bruce was here with Tony, maybe things wouldn’t be so bad. 

Peter waited anxiously for Bruce and Mr. Stark to finish their talk.  Mr. Stark had given Peter a long talk after discovering Peter had taken to calling Bruce by his first name within an hour of meeting him.  Now Peter just called Mr. Stark ‘Mr. Stark’ to annoy him.  He was often successful. 

“Good luck!”  Mr. Stark said, finishing his speech.  The lights came back up and Mr. Stark and Bruce gave back their mics.  Peter ran to his project to set it out and happily stood behind the table he was presenting on.  May came to him first and he proudly showed off his creation.  She then went next door to see Ned’s project and went around quickly to look at the others.  She had to get back to work and Peter didn’t blame her for being in a rush.  He was just glad she showed up. 

“What do we have here?”  Mr. Stark asked Ned.  Bruce smiled at Peter then listened as Ned stumbled through an explanation of his project.  He was too intimidated by Mr. Stark and Bruce’s presence, but they didn’t seem to mind. 

“Sounds neat,”  Bruce told him at the end.  Ned gave a nervous laugh and nodded.  Mr. Stark looked up and came to Peter’s table next.  He smirked at Peter and crossed his arms while Bruce smiled warmly at Peter.  “Hello, Peter,”  he said. 

“Hey, Bruce!”  Peter grinned.  “I didn’t know you were coming.”  Bruce shrugged while Mr. Stark read the write up Peter had done for his project. 

“Well, had to keep the kid entertained,”  Bruce said, gesturing to Mr. Stark.  He didn’t notice.  “Now, I know the basics behind your project.  Did you update it since I saw it last?” 

“A little,”  Peter said.  He explained how he had changed part of it to make it more efficient and Mr. Stark cut in, reminding Peter that he was actually the one that had thought that up.  “I’m sorry, should I put your name on it?”  Mr. Stark pretended to think about it then shook his head. 

“Nah,”  he said.  “I’ve already got enough stuff with my name on it that’s made messes.”  Peter glared at him and Mr. Stark chuckled.  “Come on, Bruce.  Let’s move on.” 

“Bye, Peter,”  Bruce said, following Mr. Stark to the next table.  Peter waved at him then turned back to his project to see Flash glaring at him. 

“So you really do know Tony Stark, huh?”  he said.  Peter just nodded, trying not to push Flash’s buttons.  He really didn’t want Mr. Stark or Bruce to find out he was being bullied.  They were already suspicious.  He didn’t want them to see their worries confirmed.  “Here’s what you’re gonna do: you’re gonna set me up with an internship as Tony Stark’s personal intern,”  Flash said.  Peter glanced at Mr. Stark and Bruce to make sure they weren’t paying attention.  They didn’t seem to be which was good. 

“Sorry, Flash,”  Peter said, definitely not feeling sorry.  “There’s only one available and I got it.”  Flash nodded. 

“Okay,”  he said.  Peter wasn’t getting a good vibe off Flash right now even though he seemed calm.  “Give it to me.”  At first Peter thought he was joking, then he realised Flash was serious. 

“What?  No way,”  he said.  Flash’s frown deepened.  “Besides, there’s no way you could even be considered for this internship.”

“You think you’re really that special, Penis?”  Flash hissed.  “It’s probably just a charity case anyway.  That’s why he chose you instead of me, the smartest kid at Midtown.”  Peter couldn’t stop himself from scoffing. 

“Flash, you have a C- in Biology,”  Peter said before he could stop himself.  Flash fumes and Peter paled.  His spidey senses warned him of Flash’s incoming fist, but he didn’t duck.  It would be too suspicious and he didn’t want to draw any more attention to himself than he was about to.  Instead, he let Flash’s fist connect with his jaw and found himself yelling out in pain. 

“You’re nothing special, Penis,”  Flash growled.  Peter gingerly touched his jaw. “Don’t think just because Tony Stark has you as his intern means you’re invincible.” 

“I’m sorry,”  a voice came from behind.  “Am I interrupted something?”  Flash froze and Peter looked up to see Tony and Bruce standing behind Flash.  All eyes were on them. 

“N-No!  No, sir,”  Flash said, shaking his head rapidly.  Mr. Stark nodded slowly. 

“I just want you to know that Peter Parker is not a charity case for me,”  he said.  Flash nodded quickly once again, trying to get away but Mr. Stark wasn’t done with him yet.  “Peter is the brightest and most kind hearted kid I’ve ever met.  That boy comes to my lab after school and brightens my life before he says a word to me.  You can only dream of being like him one day.” 

“I understand, sir,”  Flash said, trying to escape once more.  Mr. Stark still didn’t let him. 

“I want you to know he’s like my son,”  he said.  Flash gulped.  “And if I ever hear about or see you bullying him again, I will make it my personal mission to sabotage every possible chance you have at getting into a good high school.”  Flash nodded weakly.  Mr. Stark let him go and he ran off.  Peter just stood there, staring at Mr. Stark.  He had no idea Mr. Stark thought of him like that. 

“You really mean that?”  Peter asked quietly.  Mr. Stark turned to him and gave him a soft smile.  He nodded and Peter smiled shyly.  “I think of you like my dad, you know?” 

“I know,”  Mr. Stark nodded.  Peter frowned, confused as to how Mr. Stark has known.  He’d tried pretty hard to keep his feelings a secret in case Mr. Stark thought it was creepy or annoying. “You talk in your sleep.  And you’re mouth runs on its own when you’re tired,”  Mr. Stark told him with a smirk.  Peter felt his face heat up. 

“Tony!”  Peter exclaimed, trying to hide his face behind his hands.  Tony laughed. 

“Oh, it’s Tony now, is it?”  he teased.  Peter’s face got even hotter.  “Come on, kid.  Let’s clean up your project and head home.” 

“I’ll go talk to the teacher,”  Bruce said.  Peter packed up his project and Tony helped him return it to his science room. After much convincing on Bruce’s part and a call to Aunt May, just to make sure Tony and Bruce really were allowed to take Peter out of school, the three walked outside and met Happy in the car. 

“How’d it go?”  Happy asked, pulling out of the parking lot. 

“Awful,”  Tony said.  Peter had found the nurse before he left and gotten ice for his jaw.  Unfortunately, it had already started bruising.  “However, I’m sure ice cream will make things better.” 

“Yeah!”  Peter cheered.  Happy grumbled about giving the already excited kid something that would spike his energy, but found himself pulling up to an ice cream parlour a few minutes later.  He wasn’t that surprised when Peter came out with a rocky road and vanilla ice cream cone for him, either, and though he pretended to find it annoying, he was more than willing to take the cone off his hands and eat it in the car with Tony, Bruce, and Peter. 


	11. Bears Are Less Scary Than Moms

Peter sat in his mom’s computer chair, watching YouTube Vine compilations and laughing to himself.  Pepper had gone downstairs to help out a new intern fill out forms and get ready for their first day.  Peter knew the first day mainly consisted of touring and meeting the directer of the section the new person would be working under.  He was just stuck in his mom’s office until she was ready to go home.  The penthouse was just a few floors up, but Peter didn’t like being up there alone and his dad was busy on a mission, so he was more than willing to hang out in his mom’s office for an hour or so after school.  Besides, she liked listening to vine compilations as well.  At least, that’s what she told Peter. 

“Miss Stark would like you to meet her on the ground floor,”  FRIDAY announced.  Peter frowned and turned off his Stark phone.  Were they going somewhere?  That was a quick tour. 

“Tell her I'm coming,”  Peter said.  He got off Pepper’s chair and hurried to the elevator.  He got off at the ground floor and looked around for his mom.  Her bright red hair made her stand out easily and he quickly found her.  He pocketed his phone and walked up behind the new intern that was strangely short. 

“Oh, Peter!  FRIDAY successfully got you off your phone,”  Pepper said.  Peter rolled his eyes with a smile and the new intern turned around.  Peter almost choked on his own breath when he saw Flash Thompson standing in front of him.  “Peter, so you know Flash?  He says he goes to Midtown.” 

“Yeah, we know each other,”  Peter said, staring at Flash.  Flash seemed just as surprised to see Peter as Peter was to see him. 

“Well, I figured if you did you would like to give him the tour,”  Pepper said.  Peter wanted to tell her she figured wrong, but he decided against it.  “I’ll go finish up my work and when you’re done, we’ll head out.”  Pepper stopped herself from kissing Peter’s head and decided to just nod at him.  They were trying to keep Peter out of the eyes of the public and telling Flash he was her son would not help them. 

“Okay,”  Peter nodded weakly.  He watched his mom leave then took Flash around the ground floor.  He showed him where everything was then they got in the elevator.  “You’ll be working on floor seventeen for the most part.  All the other floors are off access for you and if you get caught on them without an advisor’s permission, your internship will be terminated and you’ll be asked to leave Stark Industries,”  Peter said as they walked on the elevator.  Peter knew the whole intern speil.  He gave them when his parents were both busy and no one else would do it.  So far he’s only done three, this was his fourth, but he knew the gist of what he was supposed to say. 

“You probably think you’re above me, don’t you?”  Flash said suddenly.  Peter blinked, almost having forgotten he was giving Flash the tour and not a stranger.  “Just because you’ve worked here longer doesn’t mean you’re better than me.  I’m still more important to you and I’ll make sure you don’t forget it when I see you for work tomorrow.” 

“Oh, I actually don’t intern—”  Peter was cut off by Flash shouting. 

“Ha!  I knew you were a liar!”  he exclaimed.  He crossed his arms and gave Peter a smug smirk.  “I bet Mrs. Stark only knows you because you come in and regularly beg her for a job.” 

“That doesn’t even make sense, Flash,”  Peter sighed.  They were only on floor five and they were getting off at floor seventeen. 

“You can’t fool me, Penis,”  Flash snapped.  “I know you’re a liar and a wannabe rich boy.  I’ll make sure you never hear the end of it at school.”  Peter sighed and looked at the floor numbers again.  Floor eight.  Floor nine.  Ten.  His counting was interrupted by his spidey senses tingling and a sharp pain on his jaw.  He gasped and cupped his jaw.  Flash shook his fist, obviously slightly injured from punching Peter. 

“What the heck?”  Peter yelled.  He glanced worriedly at the security camera and was silently begging FRIDAY to cut any footage of that from her database.  “You can’t bully me here,”  Peter told him. 

“Why?  Is it your safe place?”  Flash taunted, jutting his loser lip out in a mock pout.  The elevator dinged and the doors slid open.  Peter dropped his hand and led Flash around a corner, grabbing his sleeve and tugging him.  That only angered Flash even more.  He slammed the heel of his hand into Peter’s nose but he ducked last minute. 

“I’m serious, Flash,”  Peter said, looking around worriedly.  If anyone saw them they were sure to tell Pepper who would then know Peter was getting bullied.  As much as he hated Flash, he didn’t want him to be on the wrong end of Pepper’s anger. 

“Don’t tell me what to do, Penis!”  Flash yelled.  He dove at Peter who quickly side stepped.  Flash grabbed Peter’s shoulder and slammed him into a wall.  “You think you’re all mighty just because you’re giving me a tour.  Don’t think for a second that just because we’re at Stark means I won’t bother you.”  Peter gave up and closed his eyes.  Flash was dead. 

“He was actually trying to protect you,”  Pepper said from behind Flash.  Flash froze then quickly stepped away from Peter.  Pepper looked furious. 

“It’s not what it looks like, ma’am,”  Flash immediately said.  Peter stayed silent.  There was nothing he could do now to keep Flash from meeting his mother’s wrath.  “We were just playing around.”  Pepper didn’t look convinced. 

“Give me your badge,”  Pepper said, holding out her hand.  Flash shakily took off his badge and handed it to her.  She stared at him and he shifted on his feet.  “How long have you been bullying my son?”  she asked calmly. 

“S-Son?”  Flash whimpered.  Pepper gave him a slow nod.  “I’m not bullying him, I swear.  I didn’t even know he was your son!  His name is Peter Parker, not Peter Stark.” 

“Now you’re lying to me,”  Pepper said.  Flash shook his head as fast as possible, squeezing his eyes shut.  He just wanted to be at home.  “If you knew he was my son you would have treated him differently?” 

“Yes, yes of course!”  Flash responded.  That was definitely the wrong answer but Flash only realised it when her eyes narrowed. 

“Someone belonging to a certain family should not determine how you treat them,”  Pepper told Flash.  He wasn’t sure if he should nod again or not.  He’d been doing that a lot and didn’t want to look like an even bigger idiot than he knew he already appeared.  “Now, I’m only letting you off easy because Peter is too sweet to let me ruin your life, but I want you to know that if you ever set foot in here again or I hear so much as a rumour about you bullying anyone, I will make sure your life is miserable.  You will never forget it.” 

“Yes, ma’am,”  Flash squeaked.  Pepper stepped aside and he shot towards the elevator.  He pushed the button several times, nervously watching Pepper who stared at him until he got on the elevator and the doors had shut.  Once he was gone, Pepper turned to Peter. 

“What were you thinking keeping that to yourself?”  Pepper asked.  Peter didn’t bother answering.  She would just interrupt him to continue anyway.  “You’re father and I want nothing more than to protect you but we can’t do that if we don’t know about someone bullying you.  How long has it been going on?”  Peter waited until he was sure she wanted an answer before responded. 

“Beginning of high school,”  he mumbled.  Pepper almost lost it.  Here he was, months away from graduation, and she was only just now finding out about him being bullied.  Not only that, but it was the longest and only secret he’d ever kept from them. 

“Peter!”  Pepper cried.  Peter’s face dropped and he looked at the ground.  Pepper sighed and hugged him.  “I’m sorry.” 

“For what?”  Peter asked, hugging her back tightly. 

“For getting upset,”  Pepper answered.  She kissed Peter’s head.  “You understand why, though, right?”  Peter nodded.  “Let’s go home,”  she suggested. 

“Okay,”  Peter agreed.  They got in the elevator and rode it up to the penthouse.  Pepper found an ice pack for Peter’s jaw and he found a snack.  When Tony called to check in on them that night, Pepper told him about Flash.  Tony made the mistake of admitting that he found out a year before, promising Peter he’d keep it a secret as long as he updated his dad on everything that happened, and Pepper went off on him.  Peter didn’t see her for the rest of the night and got a text early in the morning from his dad.  Pepper had yelled at him for hours before finally hanging up.  Tony was now no longer allowed to keep secrets from her and, according to her text, going to tell her every single thing Peter had ever told Tony to keep secret.  She allowed him to stop after realising it mostly consisted of presents Peter had gotten her. 


	12. How to Fix the Avengers: A Guide by Peter Parker

Tony wasn’t sure how good of an idea this actually was.  At first he’d thought it was brilliant, then Peter had thought the same thing and now he wasn’t too sure.  Pepper didn’t seem to care, making sure he knew that if his intern got hurt in the process, she wa son May’s side.  Peter had convinced him everything would be fine and if something wasn’t fine, well, May didn’t need to be told.  He could just stay with Tony for the night.  Tony still wasn’t sure it was a good idea, but there was no backing out now.  The Avengers were finally reassembling a year after their battle at Leipzig.  Tony had made sure it was legal for them all to do so and invited them over for a celebratory dinner.  They had seemed hesitant, but they were all coming.  Peter couldn’t stop climbing the walls he was so excited. 

“Peter, if you don’t get off the ceiling I’ll call Steve right now and tell him to go home,”  Tony threatened, not even bothering to swat at Peter with a broom. It was still webbed to the wall from the last time and it hadn’t done anything other than make Peter stay on the ceiling longer. 

“But it’s fun!”  Peter argued.  Tony gave him a look and Peter dropped from the ceiling.  Tony yelled and Peter groaned.  He hadn’t meant to drop so fast and had landed on his face and stomach. 

“This is why I have the baby monitor protocols!”  Tony told him.  Peter flipped him off and kept his face buried in the carpet.  Tony rolled his eyes and pulled the spaghetti off the burner.  “Come help set the table,”  he said.  Peter got off the floor and walked over to the kitchen.  He set the table while Tony dished the spaghetti into something other than the pot it had been cooked in.  They had just finished putting food on the table when the elevator dinged and Steve walked out with his crew. 

“Hey, Tony,”  Steve said, obviously exhausted.  Sam and Bucky were mocking each other while Wanda played with her magic.  Clint looked bored out of his mind until he saw Peter staring at him, then he frowned. 

“Why’s there a kid?”  he asked, pointing at Peter.  Steve frowned as well and looked at Peter as if just noticing him. 

“Oh, this is Peter,”  Tony said, putting an arm over his shoulders.  “He’s my personal intern and a big fan of the Avengers.  Peter, you already know all of them so I guess introductions are over.”  Peter gave a small wave and Steve held out his hand. 

“Nice to meet you, kid,”  he said, giving Peter a firm handshake.  Peter nodded. 

“You too, Captain America,”  he replied. 

“Just Steve is fine,”  Steve said.  Peter nodded and watched Steve walked over to the table.  The others followed and sat down right as Natasha and Rhodey walked in.  Everyone got back up and greeted them before returning to their seats. 

Dinner went well.  Peter didn’t hear too many arguments and no one committed Tony’s food, so he considered it a success.  He offered to do the dishes while the Avengers caught up in the living room.  He was humming to himself happily when he heard a loud crash followed by a string of angry Russian.  He dried his hands and rushed into the living room.  It was a disaster.  Everyone was yelling at each other and Peter’s ears were beginning to ring.  He tried yelling at them to calm down, but it didn’t seem to work.  As a last resort, he jumped onto the ceiling, crawled to the centre of the living room, then let go with his hands.  His head was a metre away from hitting the floor and he successfully got everyone attention when he screamed. 

“Stop fighting!”  he yelled.  The room went dead silent.  Peter dropped from the ceiling, ears still ringing, and stared at all the shocked faces.  The only ones that didn’t look surprised were Tony, Natasha, and Rhodey.  

“How did he do that?”  Clint asked after a few seconds. 

“I’m Spider-Man,”  Peter weakly answered.  He might as well tell them now that they had seen him hang upside down.  Besides, these were the Avengers.  Keeping secrets was basically like breathing to them.  Unfortunately, his announcement brought on more shouting. 

“You brought a kid into a fight?”  Clint demanded, glaring at Tony. 

“God, I dropped a loading dock on him,”  Steve said, looking horrified with himself.  Rhodey tried defending Tony while Sam argued that it didn’t matter if he was a super human, he was still a kid.  Bucky looked lost and Wanda was staring at Peter, almost as if she could sense how stressed he was getting.  Things were too loud.  He could hear everyone’s heart beats and their blood pumping. 

“Too loud,”  he whispered, covering his ears.  Tony knew at once what was happening.  He rushed over to Peter and covered Peter’s hands with his own.  Peter closed his eyes tight and whimpered.  The arguing slowly stopped when the Avengers noticed Peter’s distress. 

“Head phones,”  Tony whispered to Rhodey.  He nodded and ran into Peter’s room to find the headphones Tony had made for him.  They were designed special for Peter to block out loud sounds and stop sensory overload.  Peter kept a pair in his room at home and the room he stayed in when he stayed with Tony. 

“What’s happening?”  Wanda asked.  She had been able to tell something was wrong with Peter when he first began to panic, but she hadn’t known what it was. 

“Sensory overload,”  Tony said.  He gave Peter the headphones and Peter pressed them to his head tightly.  It took quite a while before he slowly took them off and looked up at Tony. 

“I’m sorry,”  he said quietly.  Tony shook his head and hugged Peter tightly.  “I didn’t mean to ruin tonight’s dinner.” 

“You didn’t,”  Tony assured him.  Peter sniffled, trying to hold back tears, and Tony rubbed his back.  “It’s not your fault our arguing set you off.  We’ll do better next time.”  He habe everyone sharp looks and they couldn’t help but nod.  “Are you alright now, kiddo?”  he asked.  Peter nodded and pulled away.  He sniffled again but no tears fell. 

“You should have seen your faces when you saw me upside down,”  Peter said, looking around at the Avengers.  He began to smile and then laugh.  FRIDAY projected a holographic image of their faces and slowly the rest of them began to laugh.  Afterwards, Peter convinced them all to watch a movie to have a “basic bonding time”.  It seemed to work and Tony had never been more thankful the kid had attended dinner that night.  He was fairly certain they would have all killed each other otherwise. 


	13. Princess + Spider-Kid = Disaster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s not until after Infinity zwar that T’Challa and Shuri meet Peter. Some decisions are regretted.

Tony wasn’t sure what to do.  Did he return to Titan?  New York?  Queens?  Where was he supposed to go to find Peter?  People were beginning to reappear after they had defeated Thanos and Shuri and Tony had worked together to figure out how to get everyone back.  Tony knew they had succeeded the minute Bucky reappeared in the woods.  Pretty soon, everyone else began to appear where they had disappeared or where someone else was.  Tony didn’t know how he would get to Titan so he was really hoping he wouldn’t have to go there to get Peter.  If Peter reappeared on a foreign planet and was all alone, though, Tony would never forgive himself.  He didn’t have much time to think about it before Star Lord appeared in front of him.  Rocket jumped on him and he laughed.  Soon the other guardians appeared and then Strange was walking towards him, something small covered by his cape. 

“Remember how I said if I could sacrifice the kid for the greater good?”  Stephen asked.  Tony’s heart dropped and he wanted to punch Strange for being so stupid.  Peter was a kid!  He deserved a long, happy life!  “I couldn’t seem to bring myself to do it,”  Stephen said.  Now Tony was confused.  Where was Peter then? 

“Mr. Stark?”  a small voice asked.  Tony looked down at Stephen’s floating cloak and saw brown eyes and a curly head poking out at him. 

“Oh god, Peter!”  Tony exclaimed, hugging Peter, cloak and all.  The cloak unwrapped from Peter and returned to Stephen while Tony and Peter hugged.  Tony pulled back and made sure Peter was okay, no injuries or missing limbs.  Once he was satisfied, he hugged Peter again. 

“Dr. Strange says we’re in Wakanda,”  Peter said against Tony’s shoulder.  “He said he saw the future and we won even though we lost on Titan.”  Stephen said nothing when Tony looked at him. 

“Yeah, we’re in Wakanda,”  Tony said, throwing an arm over Peter’s shoulders.  “Let’s go meet everyone, yeah?”  Peter nodded so Tony led him over to all the Avengers and introduced him as Peter Parker, the Spider-Man from Leipzig.  Even Steve couldn’t find himself to berate Tony for letting a kid fight in Leipzig.  He was too happy to have Bucky and Sam back, he just smiled and shook Peter’s hand.  Peter could only grin wildly and nod. 

“Shuri, come meet Spider-Man,”  T’Challa said when he saw Tony walking towards him with Peter.  He would recognise the suit even if it was upgraded.  It still had a spider on the chest and the same colour scheme.  The only thing he didn’t like was that the kid looked about Shuri’s age. 

“Oh my god!  You’re Spider-Man!”  Shuri exclaimed excitedly.  She hadn’t let go of her brother since getting him back, but now she raced forward to reach Peter and Tony faster.  “I’m Shuri.  I worked with Tony to get you guys back.  I’ve seen all the videos of you in New York.”  Peter grinned.  He’d never seen someone so excited to meet him. 

“I’m Peter,”  he said.  “Wait, did you say you helped get us out of the soul stone?”  Peter asked.  Shuri nodded.  T’Challa has no hope of talking to Peter after that.  He and Shuri began talking about technology and would not be interrupted. 

* * * 

Three days after Peter and Shuri had been introduced to Groot, the three were inseparable and a major hazard to be around.  Shuri and Peter has taught Groot every vine they knew and had even taught him games like The Floor is Lava.  Everyone quickly learned that if they entered a room and the three were in it, they should backup as quickly as possible and leave.  It was a big problem at meals because everyone had to be in the same room for quite a while.  T’Challa, Tony, and Rocket had to make a rule that vines and games had to wait until after meals.  It didn’t always work. 

“Be careful chirren,”  Peter said, grinning when he saw they were having noodles for dinner.  “That’s a lot of sodium.”  Tony gave Peter a look but Peter was too busy grinning at Shuri and Groot to fully feel the irritation behind Tony’s look. 

“I am Groot,”  Groot said.  Peter and Shuri immediately agreed and Rocket just stared at them in amazement.  Of course he knew they had understood Groot after the first day, but he still couldn’t get over it.  Was Groot an elective on Earth too?  Rocket doubted it, but there didn’t seem to be any other explanation. 

“Peter, we’re flying back to New York after dinner,”  Tony said.  Peter poured and Tony rolled his eyes.  They had been in Wakanda for four days; it was time to return home.  Besides, May had called Tony seventy three times since people first started appearing to make sure Peter was okay.  Then she had started begging him to bring Peter back and Tony didn’t want any more phone calls.  He also missed Pepper and was anxious to get back to her.  After what had happened on Titan with Peter, Tony hadn’t wanted to let Pepper out of his sight in fear she would disappear too. 

“Why can’t I stay?”  Peter asked. 

“Cause May would have my head,”  Tony answered.  Peter’s eyes widened.  He had completely forgotten about May!  How could he do that?  Of course she would be worried.  She’d had no idea idea what had gone on. 

“Let’s go now,”  Peter said.  Tony told him to finish his dinner and then they would leave.  Peter had never eaten to fast.  Once they had both finished their dinner, Peter said goodbye to Shuri, Groot, T’Challa, Okoye, and the guardians.  T’Challa let them borrow a jet and soon they were shooting off towards New York. 


	14. The One Secret He Kept

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so maybe Ned doesn’t know EVERYTHING about Peter.

Ned was tired of this.  Every time he and Peter hung out, they either went somewhere in town or to Ned’s house.  Ned had never been to Peter’s house, but Peter had been to his more times than he could count.  Ned didn’t even know which part of the city Peter lived in (thought he figured it was fairly close to the school).  The two had been friends for a year and a half now, ever since Peter and Ned had started high school at Midtown Tech.  They had become such good friends it was hard to find them without the other. Except, that is, on weekends or sudden school days.  Peter would come back the next day and tell everyone else and the teacher he’d been sick, but Ned knew it was really just something related to Spider-Man.  That is, until Peter came back on Wednesday after being gone all weekend and the following two days with a surprisingly good tan and a sunburned nose. 

“Where have you been?”  Ned asked during lunch.  Peter looked up from his food. 

“I got the flu,”  he said.  It was their code for when he did Spider-Man things, but Ned didn’t buy it this time. 

“Uh huh,”  he said sarcastically.  “Then why do you have a tan and a sunburned nose?”  Peter crossed his eyes, trying to see his nose but not being very successful.  Apparently his spider abilities could fix everything but sunburns.  At least his nose wasn’t blistered or peeling anymore. 

“I went to a tanning shop after school and stayed in a little too long,”  Peter lied.  Ned still didn’t buy it and Peter could tell.  Fortunately for him, the bell for their next class rang and he shot out of the cafeteria and towards his class.  Ned would have to wait until after school to get his answers. 

Peter had other ideas, though.  As soon as school was out, he said a quick goodbye to Ned and started walking home.  Ned wasn’t sure why Peter walked home.  Queens wasn’t known for being safe and they had school buses that went to literally every neighbourhood nearby.  That’s why, after a quick call to his mom saying he was staying late for an impromptu Decathlon practice, he followed Peter at a distance down the street.  He didn’t seem to be going anywhere in particular until he stopped at a car.  He climbed in and Ned waved down a taxi. 

“Follow that car,”  Ned told the driver, sliding in the backseat as Peter’s car took off.  The taxi driver nodded and followed the black car all the way to downtown Manhattan.  The black car stopped outside Stark Tower and Ned sighed.  Of course Peter was just going to his internship.  Nevertheless, he paid the taxi driver and walked in.  Might as well wait around and see if he could join Peter now that he was all the way downtown. 

“Hello, Peter,”  the receptionist said, smiling at Peter as he walked past.  Peter smiled and waved, scanning his badge and walking through the metal detector. 

“Peter Stark, level 10 pass,”  FRIDAY said.  Ned choked on his breath and Peter heard.  He spun around and looked horrified to see Ned there.  He hurried back through the scanner and over to Ned. 

“What are you doing here?”  he hissed. 

“S-Stark?”  Ned stuttered, eyes wide.  He couldn’t think about anything other than how Peter was not who he thought he was.  He was so much cooler. 

“Yeah,”  Peter sighed.  He looked around the reception area then grabbed Ned’s arm.  “Come on.”  He tugged Ned through the scanner, telling FRIDAY to hush when she alerted him to an unidentified person.  He shoved Ned into the private elevator and went up to the penthouse. 

“You’re Tony and Pepper Stark’s son?”  Ned asked, his voice high pitched.  He wa sobciously still in shock and Peter wasn’t entirely sure what to do. 

“Yeah,”  he said awkwardly.  “But you can’t tell anyone!  If anyone finds out, then the media finds out, then Mom and Dad won’t let me go to school anymore!”

“You call Tony Stark Dad,”  Ned said in amazement.  Peter groaned.  He wasn’t going to get anywhere with Ned if he couldn’t shake out of his surprise.  Peter violently shook him and Ned blinked.  “You kept a secret from me!”  Ned suddenly exclaimed, pointing a finger at Peter.  Peter was relieved.  He had his friend back out of the surprised phase. 

“Sorry,”  Peter replied.  Ned knew he wasn’t.  “To be fair, if anyone told the media I’d be dead.” 

“I won’t tell the media,”  Ned promised, holding out his pinkey.  Peter shook it and they stepped off the elevator and into the penthouse.  Pepper was sitting in the living room, sipping tea while she read on her Stark tablet. 

“Hey, Mom!”  Peter cheered, walking over and kissing her cheek as usual.  Pepper smiled and kissed his cheek as well, then noticed Ned.  “Yeah, he followed me home and heard FRIDAY.  He promised not to tell anyone and I trust him because he’s keeping Spider-Man a secret too.” 

“Well, if anything gets out to the media we’ll know who to blame,”  Pepper said, looking at Ned.  Ned felt paralysed even once she smiled.  “I’m just kidding.”  That didn’t really help.  “Come in, Ned.  Peter, go get some snacks from the kitchen.  Your Dad should be home soon.” 

“Mr. Stark is in his lab,”  FRIDAY said.  Pepper opened her arms in an exasperated realisation that Tony had been below her the whole time. 

“You two have fun,”  she said, setting her tea mug in the sink while Peter searched for cookies.  “I have to go scold Dad for skipping another meeting.” 

“Okay,”  Peter chirped.  He finally found the cookies then turned to Ned as Pepper disappeared.  “I guess we can hang out in my room now.  Come on.  I’ll show you all my Star Wars stuff.”  Ned followed Peter through the huge penthouse and up to his room.  Peter’s room was easily the size of Ned’s entire first floor of his house, if not bigger.  It was also covered in signed Star Wars posters while comic books everywhere and his Spider-Man suit draped over his desk chair.  A hologram projected a screen saver over his desk and his notebooks were scattered all over. 

“Whoa,”  Ned said, looking around Peter’s room.  Peter smiled shyly. 

“I know,”  he said, sheepishly.  “Dad likes to go big when it comes to decorating my room.  I tried to make him stop, but he won’t.  Sorry if it makes you feel bad,”  Peter said, completely aware that Ned might feel uncomfortable being in such a huge bedroom that showed just how rich Peter was. 

“Don’t worry about it,”  Ned said breathlessly, still looking around Peter’s room.  He felt anything but uncomfortable.  “We should hang out here from now on.” 


	15. One Wrong Move & You’re Out

Peter wasn’t sure why he had to come with Mr. Stark to this meeting.  It was boring and the only one who showed up was General Ross who he didn’t like at all.  Mr. Stark didn’t seem surprised to find only Ross, so Peter figured that must have been the whole meeting.  That didn’t make things better, though.  He and Mr. Stark should be messing around in the lab of Stark Tower, not sitting in the conference room at the Avengers Compound.  The only thing that even sort of redeemed it was the fact that Mr. Stark gave him a box of those loft house, store bought cookies and a new Stark phone to play on during his meeting.  Peter had only nodded at General Ross, not bothering to shake his hand, and set up in a corner of the room.  He didn’t feel like General Ross deserved a handshake after what he had done to the Avengers (he only found out by eavesdropping on a phone call Mr. Stark had).  Peter tuned out the meeting and found a movie to watch.  He was certain Mr. Stark wouldn’t have approved and Aunt May would have a heart attack, but they couldn’t stop him now. 

“I see Peter follows you even to confidential meetings,”  Ross stated in the middle of their meeting.  He’d been side eyeing Peter the whole time, trying to figure out the best way to bring him up into their conversation.  When the topic veered towards keeping the editing of the Accords a secret, Ross decided to point out it wouldn’t be possible with a kid listening. 

“He’s my intern,”  Mr. Stark said, pointing over his shoulder to where Peter sat on the floor.  He had his ear buds in and his cookies beside him.  “Of course he’s with me.” 

“Oh, so he's the Spider-Man,”  Ross said. Tony frowned as his heart raced.  “You were supposed to tell me when you found out who he was.” 

“He’s not the Spider-Man,”  Tony told him coldly.  Ross had been bothering him about it ever since finding out Spider-Man had fought with Tony in Leipzig.  “I’ve already told you Spider-Man never revealed his identity to me and I found him in a park.” 

“I know you’re lying, Tony,”  Ross said.  Tony sighed.  He knew Ross was about to go on a rant filled with everything he’d ever done wrong and all the mistakes he’d made in the past.  He’d learned early on in their relationship (if that’s what you could call it) when it was inevitable and how to tune it out.  However, he wasn’t expecting Peter to knock him off his feet and catch a fist that had been previously hurled at Tony’s jaw. 

“Dude, did you just try to punch Iron Man?”  Peter asked, sounding surprised.  Ross was staring at Peter with wide eyes and Tony knew any hope of convincing Ross that Peter was not Spider-Man had just flown out the window.  Well, at least not without technology. 

“You... You are the Spider-Man!”  Ross exclaimed, staring at Peter with awe and something Tony immediately recognised as greed.  “How fascinating,”  Ross said softly.  He opened his fist and reached out to touch Peter’s face.  Peter kept his hand far enough away he was unable to. 

“I wish!”  Peter scoffed.  “No, I just grew up learning karate and then the Black Widow offered to train me once Mr. Stark introduced me to her and she is so awesome!  Man, I learned so much stuff from her.”  Peter was rambling and didn’t notice the needle Ross had pulled out.  His spider senses tingle but instead of reacting immediately, he looked for the danger.  If he reacted before looking, Ross would be suspicious.  That’s why he didn’t have time to duck when he saw Ross snarling at him as he plunged a needle into Peter’s neck.  Tony’s hand stopped the needle last minute.  He grabbed Ross's other wrist and glared at the man.  Peter quickly ducked away from Ross, keeping his first wrist in a tight hold. 

“You don’t get to come in here and attack my kid,”  Tony told him darkly.  Ross didn’t seem worried until Tony pulled the needle from his hand.  With Peter and Tony both holding onto him, Ross was unable to run.  Tony plunged the needle into Ross’s neck as he squirmed then they let go of him.  Ross crumpled to the ground, eyes wide as he breathed heavily.  “We’re gonna keep you overnight.  It seems you’re having an issue with incorrect memory and we’re gonna have to change that,”  Tony informed him.  Ross was paralysed and just watched in fear as Tony called in a couple doctors and told them to use the BARF technology to alter his memory and remove any knowledge of Spider-Man.  Once they had left, he turned to Peter.  “Hey, kid,”  he said softly, putting a hand on his shoulder. 

“Hey... Hey, Mr. Stark,”  Peter said.  He snapped out of his daze and looked up at Mr. Stark.  “That was a wild meeting.  Are all meetings like that?  Cause if so, I don’t think I’d mind coming to them more often.”  Mr. Stark chuckled and shook his head. 

“No, that was a rare occurrence,”  he said.  Peter nodded and picked up his cookie box and handed the Stark phone back to Mr. Stark.  “No, you keep that.” 

“But—”  Peter didn’t want to just take Mr. Stark’s stuff. 

“Hey, you stopped me from getting punched and almost got kidnapped by a crazy government agent,”  Mr. Stark reminded him, leading him out of the conference room.  “You deserve that.” 

“But it’s not even in stores yet,”  Peter said.  Mr. Stark gave him a look and he smiled shyly.  He nodded.  “Thanks, Mr. Stark.” 

“No problem, kiddo,”  Mr. Stark replied. 


	16. Officially Stark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter chooses to announce himself to the press right before his senior year of high school.

“That could have gone better,”  Peter said, sliding into the backseat of the car. Pepper and Tony sat in the front and Tony resisted the urge to run over all the reporters. 

“At least you got it over with,”  Pepper said.  Peter nodded.  He would be 18 in a couple months and he was graduating high school this year.  School started tomorrow and Peter wanted to get the news out before they found out through someone else.  Of course, Tony had been firmly against the idea so Pepper and Peter went behind his back to schedule the conference.  He wasn’t very happy about that, but got over himself and was able to help Peter prepare for it. 

“You did good,”  Tony said, glancing at him through the rear view mirror.  “You said everything well and acted like you knew exactly what you were doing.  I guess I really am a good teacher.” 

“Tony,”  Pepper said.  Tony grinned at her.  “You really did do well, Peter,”  she said.  Peter just nodded.  He still felt like it was more of a spur of the moment thing.  Now he had to face his last year at high school as Tony Stark’s son, not Peter, the nerd who was bullied by Flash and “friends” with Tony Stark. 

“I just hope school doesn’t change,”  Peter said, knowing it was going to anyway. 

“Well, at least you know who your real friends are and won’t have to struggle to figure it out,”  Pepper said.  Peter nodded again and looked out his window.  He was not prepared for school the next day. 

* * * 

Tony drove Peter to school the next day.  Happy had offered, but Tony wanted to make sure the press didn’t go crazy.  He had tried to make sure Peter was prepared for all the reporters that were going to follow him around and demand interviews, but he knew Peter could never fully be prepared for that part of announcing himself a Stark.  It had taken Tony a couple years to get used to it even though no one would have ever known otherwise.  He knew how to act around the press from a very young age, but Peter didn’t.  That was not something Tony regretted.  Peter had been given a normal childhood (well, as normal as it could be living with Iron Man as his dad). 

“Here we are,”  Tony said, parking the car close to the front doors.  There weren’t many reporters standing out front and the ones that were there were being escorted out by security.  Peter waited until they were gone before taking a deep breath and reaching for his door handle.  “You’ll be fine,”  Tony assured him.  Peter nodded.  “Call me if you need anything.  Stick close to Ned and MJ.  MJ will definitely make sure no one tries to kill you.”  Peter gave him a small smile, knowing it was true. 

“Love you,”  he said. 

“Love you too,”  Tony replied.  Peter opened his door and stepped out.  He had barely made it to the front steps before people surrounded him, yelling questions about what is was like being a Stark.  Peter tried ignoring them, but his senses were at twelve and he was about to go insane. 

“Hey, move out,”  a voice yelled.  A few people looked around then darted off.  Others gave Michelle weird looks and stepped back when she glare at them. 

“MJ,”  Peter smiled.  Michelle smiled back and grabbed his hand, pulling him through the crowd and down the hall. 

“So, I saw you became an official Stark yesterday,”  she said.  She had known for two years who Peter really was, but that didn’t change how she treated him.  Ned had almost exploded with excitement when he found out. 

“Yeah,”  Peter replied, pulling his bag up higher on his shoulder as he passed a few people whispering about him.  “I’m not sure I like the world knowing, but there’s no way to take it back now.”  Michelle shrugged. 

“Fake your death and start a new life in Wakanda,”  she suggested.  Peter gave her a look and she rolled her eyes.  “Or live as Peter Stark and inherit Stark Industries.  Whichever you prefer, I guess.” 

“Yo, Peter!”  Flash yelled, walking down the hall towards Peter and Michelle.  Peter sighed and Michelle squeezed his hand.  “I heard the news,”  Flash said, coming to a stop in front of the two.  He didn’t even blink at Peter and Michelle’s entwined hands.  Their relationship had been almost secret as no one really paid attention to them anyway.  However, Michelle preferred not participating in PDA while Peter was fine either way. 

“Who hasn’t?”  Peter replied.  Flash shrugged. 

“Just wanted to say I’m sorry for the past few years and was hoping we could be friends,”  Flash said.  He grinned at Peter who gave him a tight smile. 

“Of course!”  he said, not meaning it at all.  “Why wouldn’t we be friends?” 

“Great!”  Flash exclaimed, oblivious to Peter’s sarcasm.  “I’ll swing by your house today, meet your parents, see the place, and we can start our new life as best friends.”  Peter gave him a blank look and Michelle raised an unamused eyebrow at Flash. 

“Why would I be friends with you, Flash?”  Peter asked.  Flash looked confused.  “You bullied me all of my high school life and now that you know I’m Tony Stark’s son, you want to be friends.  I’m not even surprised.” 

“Wait, but I thought—”  Flash cut himself off.  “You just said we could be friends.” 

“It was sarcasm,”  Peter explained.  Michelle nodded and gave him a ‘sucks to be you’ look. 

“Look it up,”  Michelle told him.  She pulled Peter around Flash and they continued down the hall to his locker.  “On a completely unrelated note, what movie are we watching for movie night?  We aren’t going to the theatre, are we?”  she asked.  They never went to the theatre before.  Peter would have used his dad’s credit card to pay and that would have brought up problems. 

“You know what, I think we should go to the theatre,”  Peter said.  Michelle looked at him in surprise.  “If the press gets to know about my life now, they get to know all about it; and that means they get to meet my wonderful girlfriend.”  Peter tried to kiss Michelle briefly but he was met with her fingertips instead of her lips and frowned. 

“Save it, Romeo,”  she smirked.  “If you’re introducing me to the public, you’re going to do it right.”  Peter looked at her in confusion.  “Go big or go home.”  


	17. Go Big or Go Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a continuation of the last chapter. Kind of.

Peter and Michelle decided that in order for them to truly go big or go home, they would have to wait for a major event the press would already be covering.  They did go to a movie, but they were careful to make sure nothing of their relationship leaked to the media.  It had been nearly two months since the media had officially met Peter and they were eager to learn everything about him.  It was hard to find a tabloid or magazine that didn’t have at least a small article on the newly announced Stark.  Peter didn’t really like the attention, but his mom and dad were really good at keeping the press from getting too close or from poking in places they shouldn’t be.  For the most part, the articles were on things like Peter going to the store and buying cereal (‘Do You Enjoy Fruit Loops? So Does Stark’s Son, Peter! Read More Inside’).  Peter had gotten used to it for the most part and had even gone with his mom to do a photo shoot and an interview with a company on his plans for Stark Industries.  He didn’t like it, but it wasn’t the worst thing in his life either.  The biggest issue was it made it harder to be Spider-Man. 

“Are you almost ready?”  Pepper yelled down the hall.  Peter jumped out of his thoughts and hastily tied his tie.  Tonight was his first time at a big public event Stark Industries put on.  Word had gotten out that he would be attending, so it seemed like the best time for Michelle and Peter to introduce their ‘Go Big or Go Home’ plan.  Pepper and Tony had both been told about it ahead of time so they didn’t panic. 

“Yeah,”  Peter yelled back.  He grabbed his phone to see a text from Michelle saying she was at the Tower.  He walked into the living room just as Michelle walked out of the elevator.  Pepper had taken her dress shopping just for tonight’s event and Peter made a mental note to thank his mom for all her wonderful talents; like knowing what looked best on Michelle. 

“Hey,”  Michelle said, walking over to Peter.  She was wearing flats after a heated argument with Pepper.   “You look nervous.” 

“Of course I am,”  Peter replied, kissing her cheek.  “I’ve never been to one of these before.” 

“You’ll be fine,”  Michelle assured him.  He smiled.  Just then, Tony and Pepper walked into the living room together, arguing about whether or not Happy should drive. 

“Happy can drive the kids,”  Pepper said.  They couldn’t fit all four and Happy in one car comfortably. 

“Or we could take the limo,”  Tony suggested.  Pepper sighed and looked at Peter and Michelle. 

“Which would you prefer?  Happy driving you two, Dad driving all of us, or the limo?”  Pepper asked.  Peter looked at Michelle.  It wasn’t even hard to choose. 

“Go big or go home,”  they both said.  Pepper nodded. 

“Limo it is,”  she said.  She called Happy and told him to get the limo then they all piled into the elevator. 

The ride to the celebration wasn’t that long.  Happy pulled up in front of the tall stairs and locked the doors.  Peter could see dozens of reporters surrounding the car already and felt his heart beat rapidly.  Michelle took his hand and gave it a light squeeze.  He smiled at her then looked up at his parents. 

“We’ll get out first, hopefully draw them away,”  Tony said.  Peter nodded, regretting their idea already.  It was going to involve a lot of cameras and people yelling questions at them. 

“You’ll be okay,”  Pepper said.  She kissed Peter’s cheek then climbed out of the limo after Tony.  As expected, the paparazzi surrounded Tony and Pepper as they slowly made their way up the stairs.  However, a good amount of the paps had noticed the car didn’t drive away and waited for Peter to get out. 

“Are you sure you want this?”  Peter asked Michelle.  Once he brought her into the light, there was no way she’d get out. 

“Yeah,”  she said.  He nodded and knocked on the window.  Happy pulled open the door and he stepped out.  Cameras flash in his face but the glasses his dad had made him kept them at a bearable brightness.  Michelle stepped out after him, hand latched in his, and the cameras flashed even more.  Michelle was obviously surprised, pulling herself closer to Peter as he slowly followed his dad and mom up the stairs. 

“Peter!  Who is with you tonight?” 

“Peter Stark!  I have a question.” 

“Is this your company for the night?” 

The last question is what did it for Peter.  He stopped shortly and Michelle grabbed his arm.  He knew people would likely assume he was the same way his dad had been when he was younger, but he wasn’t.  He didn’t hate his dad for his past, but he tried not to think about how he would be thought of the same way until he could prove otherwise.  However, he had sworn to himself Michelle would not be viewed negatively in the eyes of the press if he had anything to say about it; and he definitely had something to say about it. 

“Who said that?”  he asked, scanning the group of reporters all jumping in his face. 

“Peter, leave it,”  Michelle told him.  He frowned and looked at her.  She shook her head.  “They’ll know they were wrong by the end of the night.  Just leave it alone for now.”  Peter definitely didn’t want to, but he did.  He pulled Michelle after him, hurrying up the stairs to get out of the reporters’s cameras.  When they got inside, they immediately found Tony and Pepper waiting for them. 

“They’re all awful,”  Peter exclaimed.  Pepper nodded, pulling Tony’s attention away from a martini and back to his distressed son. 

“It’s okay,”  Pepper said, rubbing his arm soothingly.  “Just continue on with your plan and it will all work out.”  Peter nodded and Michelle took him over to the snack bar.  She had been counting on food and was not ashamed to try everything. 

“This is good,”  Michelle said, handing a kebab to Peter.  He tried it and nodded.  He was too focused on all the people around him and Michelle noticed.  “Come on.  Let’s go show your parents how to dance.” 

“You know how to ballroom dance?”  Peter asked, not hiding his surprise.  Michelle rolled her eyes and pulled him onto the dance floor. 

“I know a lot of things you’d find surprising,”  she replied.  Peter didn’t ask what.  Instead, he lead her around the dance floor as they talked for the night. 

* * * 

Nearing the end of the night, Peter and Michelle got ready for their plan.  Peter excused himself to the bathroom to change out of his tux while Michelle went to talk to a reporter that wanted to know more about her and Peter’s relationship.  Peter had worn his Spider-Man suit under his tuxedo, not wanting to carry it around all night, with the mask stuffed in his pocket.  After ditching his tuxedo in a bathroom stall, he climbed out a window and went around the block.  Of course, his appearance at the party was a big surprise.  Reporters went insane, asking Spider-Man what he was doing here and how he got in. 

“Oh, my girlfriend invited me,”  Spider-Man said, searching for Michelle.  He could see a small smile on her face all the way across the pavilion where she was still talking to the reporter.  “My dad also made me come.  Something about it looking good for the business.”  That confused the reporters just long enough for Peter to race over to Michelle.  She was doing a live interview and the man looked surprised to see Spider-Man standing beside her. 

“You’re late,”  Michelle told him.  Peter grinned through the mask. 

“Sorry, there was a line in the bathroom,”  Peter replied.  “Do you know how hard it is to sneak out of a bathroom full of people?” 

“Apparently hard enough it took you ten minutes,”  Michelle said.  Peter shrugged.  The plan had been five.  Oh well. 

“Well, now I’m here,”  Peter said.  The man interviewing Michelle just watched with a slack jaw as the two talked.  The cameraman was about to stop rolling when Spider-Man took off his mask and ran a hand through his hair.  “Will this make up for my lateness?”  He grabbed Michelle’s face gently and kissed her.  Not only was the first camera recording them, but all the reporters that had shown up were surrounding them, taking photos of Peter Stark, Spider-Man, kissing his girlfriend, Michelle Jones.  No one even covered Tony’s announcement that Stark Industries was opening up a new division for high school interns.  Michelle and Peter covered every page and every news report the next day and for the rest of the week. 


	18. Director Pirate Man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you reading my ‘Growing Up’ books (either 1 or 2), this will be very similar to one of those chapters.

Peter really didn’t want to stay at home with Rhodey.  Tony wasn’t sure why; the kid loved Uncle Rhodey.  He would go on and on about how he wanted more Uncle Rhodey’s so when one got tired or had to go to work, he would still have more.  Tony didn’t Know what had gotten into him.  Maybe he was getting sick.  He tended to get clingy when he was sick.  JARVIS told him that Peter wasn’t sick, though, so Tony was back at square one: a near-to-tears five year old hanging on his knee, begging to go with him.  Tony was sitting on the couch, trying to figure out a way to convince Peter to stay, but nothing had worked. 

“Sir, Director Fury has asked me to tell you if you aren’t at SHIELD in the next 30 minutes, he will personally make sure you don’t go on any missions for seven months,”  JARVIS said.  Tony knew Fury wasn’t kidding which is why he gave up on trying to convince Peter to stay and scooped him up in his arms. 

“Alright, you get to come so Daddy can go on missions,”  Tony said.  He grabbed his wallet and phone then hurried into the elevator.  He strapped Peter into his car seat then shot off towards SHIELD headquarters.  He was there in twenty four minutes with Peter running behind him. 

“Daddy, where are we?”  Peter asked, running to keep up.  Tony looked down at him and sighed.  Peter was barefoot and shirtless.  In his haste, Tony had forgotten to get Peter dressed. 

“We’re at my second job,”  Tony said.  He picked Peter up as he rushed down the halls and pushed his way into an elevator. 

“You’re pushing your luck,”  Maria commented as Tony jumped into the elevator.  She raised an eyebrow at Peter who looked over Tony’s shoulder and out the glass walls. 

“Maria!  Fantastic!”  Tony exclaimed.  He checked his watch.  He had three minutes to get to his meeting and he still had a shirtless kid.  “Peter, meet Maria.  Maria, this is Peter,”  Tony said, turning Peter to face Maria. 

“Hi, Miss Maria!”  Peter said, grinning and showing her a missing tooth.  Maria smiled back but that didn’t clear up her confusion. 

“I have to get to a meeting, but Miss Maria is going to find you a shirt, some shoes, and make sure you don’t get bored,”  Tony said.  He handed Peter to Maria as the elevator stopped.  She hesitantly took the small five year old. 

“Tony, I have to be at the meeting too!”  Maria called after him.  He was already around the corner and out of sight, though, and she was holding a shirtless kid.  “Alright.  Let’s go find you a shirt,”  she said.  She carried Peter to the day care after going back down in the elevator.  They had a shirt in lost and found that fit Peter perfectly, but they didn’t have any shoes. 

“It’s okay, Miss Maria,”  Peter chirped.  He grabbed her hand as they walked out of the day care.  “I like being barefoot anyway.” 

“Good,”  Maria replied.  She had briefly considered leaving Peter at the day care, but she doubted Tony would like that.  Besides, she had every intention of putting Tony in an awkward situation when she let Peter run into the meeting. 

“Are you a superhero like Daddy?”  Peter asked as they went back up to the meeting room.  Maria shook her head.  “Then why are you dressed like that?” 

“I’m a secret agent,”  she told him.  He was five.  He wouldn’t tell anyone and if he did, they probably wouldn’t believe him. 

“Whoa!”  Peter exclaimed.  Maria smiled and led him down the hall to the meeting.  It had been twenty minutes since it had started, but she knew Fury wouldn’t be too upset with her once Stark’s kid interrupted it. 

“Alright, go find your dad,”  Maria said, opening the door.  Peter ran inside.  As soon as he saw Tony, he grinned and raced over to him.  Director Fury stopped what he was saying and look up to see a small kid bouncing beside Tony.  “Sorry, sir.  Stark left me with his kid,”  Maria said.  Tony glared at her as he set Peter on his lap. 

“Stark has a kid?”  Fury asked, looking to Tony for a better explanation.  “Natasha failed to put that in her report.” 

“Yeah,”  Tony said.  “That’s cause she knows when agencies shouldn’t know about secret kids.”  Fury purses his lips and Peter turned around in Tony’s lap.  When he saw Fury, he gasped. 

“Are you a pirate, sir?”  he asked.  Fury tilted his head, giving Peter a curious look.  “I thought pirates were fake.” 

“I’m not a pirate,”  Fury told him.  Peter looked confused.  “I’m a secret agent.  A secret agent that doesn’t allow kids in his office,”  Fury said, giving Tony a pointed look.  Tony didn’t seem fazed, staring blankly at the director. 

“Oh!  You’re like Miss Maria!”  Peter exclaimed.  Fury looked back at Peter then at Maria.  “Are you the boss of my Daddy?” 

“Yes, I am,”  Fury nodded, figuring he might as well entertain the kid for a while before yelling at Stark for bringing him. 

“Do you know Captain America?”  Peter asked.  Fury nodded and Peter gasped in awe. 

“I’m the boss of Captain America, too,”  he said.  Peter looked like he was about to explode with excitement. 

“That’s so cool!”  he squealed.  Fury smiled and nodded.  “Are you the boss of all the Avengers?  Even Auntie Tasha?” 

“Well, Auntie Tasha—”  he looked a little uncomfortable referring to Natasha as ‘Auntie Tasha’.  “—is kind of a free spirit, but yes, I am her boss too.” 

“You must be a super superhero if you’re the boss of the Avengers,”  Peter said.  Fury nodded with a smile. 

“I guess so,”  he agreed.  “Now, how about you go with Miss Maria and go play on my hologram while your Daddy and I talk.” 

“Okay!”  Peter said happily.  He went with Maria over to a hologram and she pulled up a game website.  While he played games, Fury berated Tony for bringing his kid in.  Peter didn’t notice, though.  He was too busy playing Galaga. 


	19. Sorry, Bullying at Stark Industries is Illegal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A field trip to Stark Industries doesn’t go how everyone planned.

Peter wasn’t sure if he was lucky or not to have spent the night at the Tower.  Usually May said no to sleepovers with Tony (yes, Peter had finally started calling his mentor Tony accept when purposely trying to irritate him) on weekdays, but Peter and Tony both came to the front door of Peter’s apartment and begged.  May was impressed that Peter had gotten Tony to literally beg, so she allowed it.  Peter had showered her in hugs then quickly had her sign his permission slip before he and Tony raced out the door.  They spent the night in the lab working and then watching TV until Pepper told FRIDAY to kill the connection.  After that, they had gone to bed and woken up to bacon and eggs sitting on the kitchen counter beside a note from Pepper reminding Tony to get Peter to school on time. 

“I wish they would just let me show up on my own,”  Peter said, buckling his seat belt as Tony shot out of the garage. “I’m just coming back in an hour.  I could have slept in.” 

“May called ahead and told the teacher to let you stay afterwards,”  Tony told him.  Peter grinned.  He had to remember to remind May just how much he loved her. She was truly the best aunt in the whole wide world.  “You have your permission slip and lunch?”  Tony asked.  Peter patted his pocket where his Stark phone (a birthday gift from Tony) and permission slip were. 

“Wait, I don’t have a lunch,”  Peter said.  Tony sighed.  They were already too far from the Tower to turn around and grab something and the restaurants they passed were all too far off the freeway. 

“I’ll bring something down when you stop your tour for lunch,”  Tony promised.  He would have just given Peter money for the cafeteria, but he wasn’t sure the cafeteria was where they’d be eating.  They might eat outside on the lawn.  “Text me where you stop for lunch and I’ll bring you a sandwich or something.” 

“Okay,”  Peter nodded.  He had told Tony he didn’t want to be pointed out while on tour.  He didn’t tell him about Flash, but he did say some kids would get jealous and he didn’t want all the attention he would get.  Tony promised to leave him alone all day until the end when he was required to do a Q&A with the kids.  During that, he was given strict instructions not to talk about, talk to, or even look at Peter under any circumstance. 

“You’re all set?”  Tony asked, parking the car by the bus.  Peter nodded and opened the door.  “Text me when you get back to the Tower.  Don’t roll your eyes at me!  I just want to know when to hide and when to deactivate FRIDAY to acknowledge your presence.” 

“Alright,”  Peter said.  He grinned and said goodbye to Tony before climbing out of the car.  Tony watched him hand the permission slip to his teacher then climb onto the bus.  Once Peter was safe and inside, he pulled out of the parking lot and returned to the Tower. 

* * *

Peter followed the group of students around the Tower.  A lot of the floor he hadn’t actually been on before, so he allowed himself to look around and enjoy the tour.  Of course, most of his classmates found the labs to be the most interesting, but Peter found them one of the more boring parts of the tour.  Tony had bunch fancier lab equipment in his own lab.  Heck, Peter’s personal lab was more high tech than this one.  He wasn’t that entertained by it. 

“Hey, Penis!  It this too lame for you?”  Flash taunted.  Peter sighed from where he stood beside Ned.  Ned had been asking him about every single thing and Peter had told him what each one did followed by what Tony used instead.  “I bet you’re gonna say you’ve been to Tony Stark’s personal lab so this is way below you.” 

“Leave me alone, Flash,”  Peter said.  He really wanted Flash to just ignore him for one day.  Hopefully FRIDAY wouldn’t alert Tony to his bully’s behaviour because if Tony caught wind of Peter being bullied, the man would be down in 0.3 seconds. 

“Alright everyone, we’re gonna go eat lunch now,”  Mr. Heinz announced.  A few kids whined but followed the tour guide outside to the dining tables.  Peter texted Tony, telling him they were breaking for lunch outside.  He joined Ned and Michelle under a tree instead of at a table and sat between them. 

“Did you forget your lunch?”  Ned asked. Peter nodded and explained how he had spent the night at the Tower unexpectedly, but Tony was bringing him food.  “Tony Stark made you lunch!”  Ned gasped.  Peter rolled his eyes with a smile.  His phone buzzed, telling him Tony was headed to the lobby and he’d better be there to get his food. 

“I’ll be right back,”  Peter said.  He got up and told Mr. Heinz he needed to go to the bathroom.  Mr. Heinz sent him inside and Peter rushed in just in time for Tony to exit the elevator. 

“Hey, kid,”  Tony greeted, handing him three sandwiches to suit his enhanced metabolism.  Surprisingly, Pepper was right behind him with a baggie of cookies. 

“These cookies are for you to share,”  she said, handing them to Peter. 

“Thanks, Pepper!”  Peter grinned, taking the sandwich and the cookies.  She smiled and gave him a short hug. 

“Are you having fun?”  she asked.  Peter nodded excitedly.  “Good.  You’re coming up to talk to me next.” 

“Awesome,”  Peter said.  Tony asked him how he liked the labs and he rolled his eyes.  “Boring.”  Tony chuckled and gave him a quick hug. 

“Better get back out there, Underoos,”  he said.  Peter nodded and hugged both Tony and Pepper shortly before racing back out to his friends.  He gave them each a cookie (there were only three, but they were large) then ate his sandwich.  By the time he had finished his third sandwich, he was full and it was time to go back inside.  He followed his class into the elevators and up to the conference room where Pepper was.  She was typing on her laptop when they came in, but she quickly stopped and smiled at them when she realised they had arrived. 

“Hello, everyone,”  she greeted.  They all sat down in chairs and she stood at the front of the room.  She briefly explained hey could ask her questions for an hour and then Tony Stark would come out.  Most questions were about her and Tony’s relationship, but she also got some about how she had become CEO even though Tony was still alive.  Only Michelle and Ned asked things Michelle considered un-sexist.  Michelle had a fit with all the sexist questions and began asking questions that weren’t.  Peter could tell Pepper appreciates it as Michelle was often called on. 

“Everyone is so sexist,”  Michelle muttered after Pepper left and Tony appeared.  He was given a much bigger applause, but Michelle didn’t even pretend to care.  She had a point to make and refused to clap when the applause was already so much more than Pepper’s had been. 

“Okay, I guess I have to answer questions,”  Tony said, giving Pepper an unsure look.  She nodded and he turned back to the students with a grin.  “Beware though, I won’t answer them if I don’t like them.”  A couple kids laughed but Peter rolled his eyes.  He found the whole Q&A interesting if only because some of the questions Tony got were awkward and he was obviously awkward about them.  Michelle even asked how he felt about egalitarianism and Tony looked rightfully confused.  He gave Pepper a horrified look but she just grinned.  When he asked what eagle-literarian-ism was, Michelle just laughed.  He was forced to move on awkwardly and Michelle didn’t stop grinning. 

“One of the kids in my class has an internship here,”  Flash said.  Peter’s head snapped up from his phone where he had been googling what Michelle had asked about. 

“Impossible,”  Tony dismissed.  “I don’t have high school interns.”  Peter paled and Flash turned around in his seat to grin at Peter. 

“I knew you were a liar, Penis,”  Flash hissed.  He then turned back to Tony.  “Penis Parker says he works for you.  What do you have to say to liars?”  Tony just blinked.  That kid had not just insulted his kid, had he? 

“I’m sorry, what?”  Tony asked.  Pepper looked at Peter worriedly.  She had heard what Flash had said too and knew there was no way Tony would let it go.  “You did not just call my kid Penis.” 

“He’s not your kid, though,”  Flash said.  He looked back at Peter who was trying to hide from Tony’s eye sight.  “He’s just a lying nerd.” 

“Peter is my kid and he’s the best kid I know,”  Tony told Flash lowly.  Flash must have realised Tony was serious and got nervous. 

“That’s... That’s a funny joke,”  Flash said, laughing nervously.  He was getting a dark look from Pepper and he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t more scared of her than Tony right now.  “How did Peter set you up to that?” 

“Peter didn’t set me up to anything,”  Tony told him.  Peter was nearly under his chair now, trying to avoid all the stares he was getting.  “In fact, he didn’t even want me to show up and talk to him today and now I know why.  Cause your jerk-self would bully him about it.  That’s my kid you’re bullying, though, so of course I found out even without him telling me.  I know the signs of someone being bullied and Peter has been showing them since I met him which tells me the bullying isn’t a new thing, am I right?” 

“Yes,”  Flash said weakly.  He wanted to hide like Peter now, but he couldn’t seem to move. 

“If you ever talk to my kid again or even look at him, I will crash all your hopes of getting into a good school,”  Tony threatened.  “You will never get a job at Stark and I will make sure anyone I have even the slightest contact with will know you’re no good and refuse to hire you.” 

“Yes, sir,”  Flash whimpered.  Tony took a deep breath. 

“Q&A is over,”  he announced.  “Get back on your bus.”  Mr. Heinz quickly led the kids out of the room and Peter was left hiding under a chair with Tony and Pepper looking at him. 

“So, pizza?”  Peter asked nervously, not getting out from under his chair.  Tony sighed but smiled. 

“Yeah,”  he agreed.  Peter grinned and climbed out from under his chair.  His grin dropped when Tony continued, though.  “Pizza and a long talk.” 


	20. A Bad Time to Get Shot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This does have gun violence (hence the title)

Peter was just finishing up patrol when Karen alerted him to something a few blocks down.  Apparently some guy was threatening someone with a gun.  Peter was currently on the phone, talking to his dad, and informed him he was gonna be a little late.  Tony said he’d stay on the phone, just to make sure everything went fine and because he didn’t want to hang up just to answer two minutes later.  Peter shrugged and swung off in the direction Karen led him.  He dropped down into the alley a metre from the gunman, successfully shocking both victim and assailant.  He grinned even though it wasn’t very visible through his mask. 

“Dude, way to show off America’s love for guns!”  Peter exclaimed.  He webbed the gun and pulled it from the man’s hand.  He investigated it closer before shrugging and tossing the gun over his shoulder.  The gunman charged at him before he could say anything else and he hit the ground hard. 

“Stupid spider,”  he muttered.  He kicked Peter and grabbed his gun.  Peter wrestled him, trying to pull the gun out of the man’s hand.  It shot and the kid screamed.  Peter glanced at him quickly to make sure he wasn’t hurt and froze when he recognised the kid as Flash.  His delay was just enough for the gunman to take his gun back and point it at Peter. 

“Is someone pointing a gun at you?”  Tony asked.  Peter raised his hands as the man kept his gun aimed at him. 

“Now’s not the best time for distractions, Dad,”  Peter muttered.  The man thought Peter was talking him and frowned. 

“Don’t insult me!”  he snarled.  Peter rushed to explain he wasn’t, he was actually talking to his dad and could the gunman hang on just a second.  Confused, the man lowered his weapon just a bit. 

“If you keep distracting me, Dad, I’ll hang up,”  Peter said, turning slightly away from the gunman.  That was his first mistake.  

“Don’t hang up on me!”  Tony told him.  The gunman raised his gun again and shot at Peter.  Peter’s second mistake was not moving when he felt his spidey senses go off.  

“I’m fine, I’m just in the middle—”  Suddenly he was in the middle of screaming.  The gunman took off and Peter dropped to his knees.  The bullet had torn through his abdomen and he was bleeding profusely. 

“Peter?  Talk to me!  What happened?”  Tony yelled.  Peter gasped, trying to stop the bleeding by covering up his wound.  “I’m on my way.  Don’t move!”  Peter didn’t want to anyway with the pain coming from his side. 

“Spider-Man?  Are you okay?”  Flash asked, rushing to Peter’s side.  Peter nodded quickly.  He couldn’t breath with his mask on but refused to take it off.  Flash was not going to learn he was Spider-Man. 

“Yeah, head on home now, kid,”  Peter said, gasping for air.  Flash shook his head and looked around for something to stop Peter’s bleeding. 

“I’m gonna help you,”  Flash said.  Peter groaned in frustration and pain, leaning back against the alley wall. 

“My Dad’s on his way,”  Peter said.  “Just go.”  He heard the Iron Man armour above him and sighed in relief.  His dad was here.  Now he could panic and his dad could be the calming one. 

“Oh god, Peter,”  Tony said.  He dropped out of his Iron Man suit and ripped off Peter’s mask.  Peter gulped in the cold air and started crying.  How did Aunt Tasha get shot and say it wasn’t that painful?  His gunshot wound hurt like hell! 

“Dad!”  Peter cried.  Tony nodded and gently moved Peter’s hand from his wound.  Blood poured from his side and Peter shook in pain.  Tony quickly got back in his suit then picked up Peter, not bothering to threaten Flash about spilling Peter’s identity.  He rushed Peter to the Tower’s medical bay and waited anxiously for Peter to get out of surgery.  When a doctor came and told Tony he was out but unconscious, Tony wasted no time getting to his room.  He sat beside Peter’s bed and grabbed his hand.  Pepper came running in a few minutes later in a bath robe and her hair pulled back in a messy bun.  FRIDAY had woken her up and explained the situation once Peter was out of surgery. 

“Oh my god,”  Pepper gasped when she saw her son.  She sat beside Tony and reached for his hand.  Tony gave her a light squeeze and said nothing about the tears in her eyes.  “He’ll be okay, right?” she asked, brushing a hand through Peter’s curls. 

“Yeah, he’s gonna be okay,”  Tony promised.  They both watched Peter while he slept, waiting for him to wake up.  When he did, his wound was almost entirely healed thanks to his enhanced healing.  It still hurt when he stretched and the incision from his surgery left a pink line, but other than that it was healed. 

“Hey,”  he murmured softly.  Pepper let out a small cry and kissed his forehead.  “Hey, mama,”  he whispered, leaning towards her touch. 

“You’re so stupid,”  she said, tearing up again.  Peter gave her a small smile then looked at his dad. 

“Did you talk to Flash?”  he asked.  Tony frowned in confusion.  Who was Flash and why was he so important it was the first thing Peter asked about after getting shot?  “He was the kid in the alley that I helped.  He goes to my school and now he knows you’re my dad and that I’m Spider-Man.” 

“Crap,”  Tony sighed.  He had completely forgotten about the kid.  “I’ll contact him and tell him not to tell anyone.” 

“Thanks, Dad,”  Peter said.  Tony nodded and kissed the hand he was holding.  “Do you think I could skip school today?  And maybe tomorrow?”  Pepper have him a look. 

“You’re staying home from school for a week,”  she said.  Peter groaned. 

“Mom!  I’m fine!”  he insisted.  Pepper shook her head. 

“Getting shot does not leave someone ‘fine’,”  she told him.  “You had surgery.  You are in the hospital.  You are the opposite of fine.”  Peter rolled his eyes. 

“Fine, three days,”  he bargained.  Pepper looked hesitant but Tony backed Peter up and she agreed.  He then went to talk to Flash who promised over and over again that he wouldn’t tell a soul what had happened.  Peter was very surprised when Flash came up to him and thanked him for saving his life and then stood up for him any time someone made a rude comment.  Ned asked what had happened and Peter told him. 

“Wow,”  Ned said, staring across the room at Flash.  “It’s like a complete turn around.”  Peter nodded. 

“Yeah,”  he agreed.  He wasn’t sure how he felt about it yet, but he was pretty sure he could get used to it eventually. 


	21. Please, Mr. Stark?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this isn't really people meeting Peter as Stark's son, but it is Tony's employees seeing Peter as someone who can convince Tony to do anything. It doesn't really fit, but it was a request.  The request made more sense with this book, so I tried to make it work. Enjoy!

Peter liked hanging out with the employees at Stark Industries.  Whenever Tony had a meeting or couldn’t be with Peter the minute he arrived at the Tower after school, Peter would go hang out with some of the lab workers and talk with them.  They often presented him with their ideas if they had a problem and Peter would work to help them figure out the issue.  Sometimes it took multiple days and he would delay meeting Tony for an hour or two while he helped solve the problem.  Today was one of the days Tony was in a meeting, though, so Peter didn’t feel bad about going to the regular SI labs to talk to the employees who were now his friends. 

“Hey, Peter,”  James smiled, waving as Peter walked in.  Peter waved back and jogged over to James’s work station.  James was a fairly new employee; he had only graduated four months earlier and been hired as a electronics developer two months ago.  Since he was close to Peter’s age, they got along well. 

“Hey, James,”  Peter said.  He stood beside James and looked down at what he was working on.  “Cool!  I didn’t know Stark Industries was developing a public version of FRIDAY.”  James fumbled with his plans and turned a little red. 

“It’s not,”  he said.  Peter frowned in confusion.  “It was just an idea I had.  Your own personal AI that can watch the house and help you with things, but Amazon and Google already have something similar.” 

“But anything from Stark would be way more advanced,”  Peter pointed out.  James nodded.  “You should tell Tony!  He’d love the idea.  He’s been upset about how popular Amazon and Google have been.” 

“No.  No, I don’t think that’s a good idea,”  James stuttered, shaking his head quickly.  Peter rolled his eyes and grabbed James’s arm. 

“Come on,”  he said, pulling James out of the lab.  “I’ll even come with you to talk to him.  He’s not scary.” 

“That’s because he likes you!”  James exclaimed.  Peter pushed him onto an elevator and they headed up to Tony’s office.  James couldn’t stop fidgeting and muttering about how this was a bad idea.  Peter pulled him aside once they reached Tony’s office and looked at him. 

“It’ll be fine,”  Peter promised.  James didn’t too very sure.  His eyes were wide and darting side to side quickly.  “What’s so scary about Tony?” 

“He’ll fire me!”  James whisper yelled.  He leaned forward as if telling Peter a secret.  “I heard that if anyone presents an idea to him and he doesn’t like it, he’ll fire them and they’ll never get a job again.  I don’t want to live on the streets!”  Peter rolled his eyes. 

“That’s the biggest lie I’ve ever heard,”  he deadpanned.  He tugged on James’s arm.  “Tony loves new ideas.  Trust me.  Besides, I promise I won’t let him fire you.”  James nodded and Peter led him into Tony’s office.  Tony had just finished his meeting and was shaking hands with the man he had been talking to.  The man smiled and nodded at Peter and James as he walked out.  James gulped when the door shut and Tony Stark looked at him. 

“Hey, Peter,”  he smiled.  Peter grinned back.  “Who’s your friend?”  Peter pushed James forward who stumbled a bit.  His face got hot and he avoided eye contact with Tony. 

“This is James,”  Peter introduced proudly.  “He works for you and he has a really good idea for getting even with Amazon and Google.”  Tony looked interested in that idea and turned to James.  Peter nudged James, telling him to tell Tony his idea.  James stuttered through his explanation then waited anxiously. 

“I think it’s a great idea,”  Tony smiled.  James visibly relaxed and Peter shot him a congratulatory grin.  One thing James had learned about Peter was that it was hard to find him not smiling. 

“Thanks,”  James said.  Tony nodded. 

“Go ahead and head up the project,”  Tony instructed.  “You’re in charge.  However, I don’t want you using FRIDAY. I bet you’re smart enough to create a new AI if I give you the basic foundation, though.”  He held out his hand and James shook it. 

“Thank you so much, sir,”  James said excitedly.  “You won’t regret it.” 

“I know I won’t,”  Tony said, patting James’s hand then letting it go.  “When Peter sees a good idea, it often is a really good idea.  Good luck.”  James nodded and stumbled out the door.  Once he was out of Tony’s office, he let out a victorious yell then raced back down to his lab to tell his friends.  “Man, you have got to stop bringing me employees with ideas,”  Tony said, slinging an arm over Peter’s shoulders and guiding him out to his private elevator. 

“But they’re good ideas!”  Peter said.  Tony nodded. 

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean Stark Industries can support them all,”  Tony told him.  Peter shrugged. 

“It should,”  he said. 


	22. Tour Guide Stark

Peter really liked unofficially working at Stark Industries.  His mom and dad were more than willing to give him small jobs to do for the company, but ever since Peter had asked, they’d been letting him lead tours to the various people or groups that showed up.  He gave tours to new employees, interns, middle schoolers, high schoolers, and interested college kids.  Really, if anyone came by for a tour and Peter was around, he was the guide.  He loved it, everyone seemed to enjoy his tours, and Pepper and Tony didn’t mind as long as no one discovered Peter was their son.  So far, that hadn’t been an issue.  The biggest issue was that he looked too young.  Pepper always told complainers to suck it up and that Peter was the best guide they had.  She was always proven right. 

“Peter?  There’s a group downstairs that wants a tour,”  Pepper said, hanging up her phone.  Peter looked up from his homework then back down at it as if having an internal struggle.  “You can finish that later if you want.” 

“Okay,”  Peter said.  He jumped to his feet and hopped in the elevator.  After a quick ride down to the lobby and once he had grabbed a fake badge (it said Peter Parker instead of Peter Stark), he turned the corner into the lobby to collect his group.  He nearly had a heart attack when he recognised the six kids and teacher from Midtown Tech.  Flash was in the group along with Michelle and Abraham.  The other three kids he didn’t know. 

“What are you doing here?”  Flash sneered when he saw Peter.  “Are you really trying to get in to prove your fake internship here?” 

“He’s the one in,”  Michelle said casually, turning a page in her book.  She already knew Peter’s secret.  Both of them, actually.  “Can you not be a jerk for once and just let us enjoy a club trip?”  Club?  What club was this? 

“Um, yeah, I’m your tour guide,”  Peter said awkwardly.  Flash’s eyes bulged as Peter held out a tray of guest badges.  “You’ll need these.  Happy gets upset if you don’t wear one.”  Flash glared at Peter as he took out a badge and clipped it on. 

“How were you able to pull this trick?”  Flash hissed, following Peter through the security gate and into an elevator. 

“I have an internship here,”  Peter said with a bored voice.  He took them up to one of the office floors and led them around.  The whole tour, he could feel Flash’s glare on him.  He took them to some of the labs, the cafeteria, and then back down to the lobby. 

“Thanks for the tour, Peter,”  Abraham said, returning his badge to the basket.  Peter just smiled and nodded.  The six kids followed Mr. Saff outside and Peter turned to give the badge basket back to the front desk worker.  He barely dodged a sudden punch, though, and turned to see Flash fuming. 

“I don’t know how you did it, but I know you don’t actually know Tony Stark,”  he sneered.  Peter stared at him.  “You may work here for real, but Tony Stark would never hire you as a personal intern.”  Flash slammed his fist into Peter’s jaw and Peter yelled out in pain.  His jaw snapped and he brought a hand up to touch it gingerly. 

“Peter!”  Pepper yelled, running across the lobby and through the security gate. She rushed over to Peter who tried to assure her he was alright.  Once Pepper was certain he was fine, she rounded on Flash.  “You come in here and assault a worker!  How dare you!” 

“Why do you even care?”  Flash asked.  Pepper fumed. 

“You just punched my son and if it weren’t illegal for me to hit minors, I’d do it,”  she threatened.  Peter figured Flash must have dropped his brain somewhere along the tour based on his reply. 

“I’m not a minor!  I’m 18!”  he exclaimed. 

“Oh,”  Pepper said.  “Perfect.”  She punched Flash so hard he fell over.  A few employees looked over to see what the commotion was, but turned away when they saw how angry Pepper was. 

“What the hell?  You can’t hit me!”  Flash exclaimed, jumping to his feet.  “I’m a kid!” 

“You’re 18,”  Pepper reminded him.  “Now get out of here before I punch you again.”  Flash was gone in seconds and Pepper turned back to face Peter. 

“You told him I was your son,”  Peter said first thing.  Pepper gave him a look and he got defensive.  “What?  I figured you should know you just told a teenager you had a son and it happened to be me.” 

“I’m glad that punch didn’t kill your sass,”  Pepper told him.  Peter grinned then grimaced, cupping his jaw again.  “Come on.  Let’s go find you some ice.” 

“Where’s Uncle Steve when you need him?”  Peter joked.  Pepper gave him a sharp look.  “Sorry.” 

“Yeah you are,”  she said.  He wasn’t and they both knew it.  Apparently FRIDAY had sent Tony the footage of Pepper right hooking Flash and the following conversation.  Peter got a high five for his comment on Steve and Pepper grounded them both. 


	23. Best Bomb Squad

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, this chapter does deal with bombers at school, so don’t read it if it might trigger you. It was a request for a threat at Peter’s school and this was one of the only things I could think of.

Sure, Peter didn’t like school.  In fact, it was probably one of his least favourite places to be since the teachers either favoured him too much (which lead to bullies) or hated him (which made them bullies).  However, that did not mean Peter wanted to hear someone call a lock down over the school intercom.  Especially when someone got on their phone to try and figure out why, only to discover there was a bomber that had chosen their school for a target.  So yeah, Peter didn’t like school, but he didn’t want it to be blown to bits; with him inside or not. 

“Dude, they’re right outside,”  Ned hissed at Peter.  The teacher violently shushed them and Peter rolled his eyes.  The bomber already knew there were people inside.  No one shut down a school on a random Thursday.  Besides, the bomber had likely been watching them to make sure people were inside. 

“I have to get out,”  Peter told Ned.  His Spider-Man suit was in his backpack which was still sitting by his desk.  If he could just grab it and change in a bathroom, he could call Mr. Stark then go and delay the bomber. 

“I’ll distract the teacher,”  Ned said.  Peter nodded and got ready to run for his backpack.  “We’re all gonna did!”  Ned yelled.  That caused the panic someone would expect it to and Peter rushed towards his backpack.  He raced out the door and into a bathroom.  He changed into his suit, dropped his backpack in his locker, then ran outside to confront the bomber. 

“Karen, call Mr. Stark and tell him to get down here,”  Peter said, running out through the front doors and down the steps.  The bomber stood at the bottom of the steps, backpack over his shoulders and smiling widely. 

“Spider-Man!”  the man exclaimed cheerfully.  Peter had learned early on if a bad guy said his name happily, it usually meant more trouble for him. 

“Hey!  What are you doing here?”  Peter asked casually.  He meandered towards the man, trying to think up a plan for getting the backpack—which likely carried the bomb—away from the man.  “Got a bone to pick with someone inside?” 

“Not anymore,”  the man said.  Peter frowned.  What was that supposed to mean?  “He came right outside to me; just like I was told he would if I threatened Midtown Tech.”  Peter froze.  This guy knew who he was.  Well, maybe not exactly, but he was in contact with someone who knew Peter went to Midtown and knew he was Spider-Man. 

“Your friend Toomes tell you that?”  Peter asked.  He was the only one that knew that much about Peter.  As Peter expected, the man nodded.  “I haven’t heard much about him.  How’s he doing?  What else did he tell you?” 

“He’s good,”  the man said, glancing over his shoulder.  “He told me you like to talk a lot.” 

“Wow!  He really does know me—Hey!”  Peter yelled, barely dodging the alien tech gun the man had suddenly pulled out.  If Peter had any doubt in his mind that this man knew Toomes, it was gone now.  “Let’s just talk—” dodge.  “—this—” dodge.  “—out.”  Peter doges another shot.  “Man, I know I need to exercise more, but could we maybe not use the gun?”  Peter asked, backflipping to avoid yet another shot. 

“I like it,”  he man said, admiring the alien weapon. 

“How we doing with Mr. Stark, Karen?”  Peter asked, not taking his eyes off the bomber.  He didn’t want to web the gun away from the man as he wasn’t sure what would happen it he did. The last time he’d encountered alien tech like hadn’t gone that well. 

“Look up,”  a metallic voice said.  Peter did and he saw Iron Man flying his way.  He grinned.  Iron Man dropped down beside him and the bomber frowned.  “Hey, pal.  Anyone ever tell you threatening kids is bad?”  Mr. Stark asked.  He raised a repulser and shot the guy point blank in the chest.  The man flew backwards, gun flying out of his hands and skittering across the pavement. 

“Little late,”  Peter mumbled.  Mr. Stark rolled his eyes. 

“I think I did fine,”  he replied, walking towards the man with Peter hot on his heels.  “You’re not Peter Crisp yet.” 

“Great,”  Peter said.  He picked up the gun and Iron Man destroyed it.  “So when I am you’ll panic?”  Instead of a verbal answer, Peter got a real one.  The bomber had pulled out another gun when they weren’t paying attention and shot Peter.  Peter was too busy talking to Mr. Stark to notice and the laser hit his left shoulder.  Peter screamed and dropped to the ground.  Tony panicked. 

“You son of a bitch,”  he muttered, turning to the bomber.  He shot a dart at the man and he dropped unconscious.  He knew better than to kill the man.  Besides, Peter was on the ground in pain after a laser hit him. 

“Mr. Stark?”  Peter cried out.  Tony dropped down to his side and gently picked him up. 

“You’re gonna be okay,”  Tony promised.  He took off towards the Tower and rushed Peter to medical.  He was admitted to emergency surgery as the laser had torn through his shoulder and chest, too close to his heart to be safe.  Tony waited anxiously and called May, letting her know what had happened.  When she arrived, she joined Tony in drinking dozens of cups of coffee and pacing back and forth in the waiting room.  After hours, a doctor came out and called them back to Peter’s room. 

“We were almost too late,”  the doctor said, guiding Tony and May down the hall.  “The blast was extremely close to his heart and he did flatline once in surgery.”  May gripped Tony’s hand tightly.  If it had been any other occasion, he would have teased her about it, but right now he was thankful for the comfort.  “He’ll need to stay on bed rest for two days even with his accelerated healing.  After that he can walk around for short periods on time, but no school for at least a week.  His heart has to recover.” 

“Thank you,”  Tony said.  The doctor nodded and Tony and May walked into Peter’s room.  He had just woken up and was watching the TV while a nurse checked his IVs. 

“Oh, Peter!”  May exclaimed, rushing to his side.  She was careful not to hug him as tight as she wanted to, bring gentle around his injury. 

“Hey, May,”  Peter smiled.  He pointed to the TV.  “I’m on TV.”  May nodded and Tony sat in a chair beside Peter’s bed. 

“Of course you are,”  she replied.  “Spider-Man was a hero.  A stupid one, but one—” 

“No, Peter Parker is,”  Peter interrupted.  May and Tony both frowned and looked up at the TV.  Sure enough, news reporters were still covering the incident.  They showed footage of Spider-Man being shot and collapsing followed by Tony shooting the bomber.  The reporters had talked to some of the students and the ones in Peter’s classroom had pieced things together. 

“I had no clue Peter was the Spider-Man,”  Betty was saying.  “He was always so quiet.  Everyone picked on him but he never did anything.”  Tony’s frown deepened and Peter refused to look at him. 

“Yeah, I know Peter,”  Flash said.  “He’s in my class.  I talk to him everyday and sometimes we hang out after school.  I never knew he was Spider-Man though.” Peter’s mouth dropped.  Flash was a liar! He made himself look like Slider-Man’s he’s friend when really, he was Spider-Man’s best bully.

“Oh no,”  Tony groaned.  All the students were telling the press Peter was Spider-Man, publicly thanking him for saving them and giving him ‘get well soon’ wishes.  Now the whole world knew about Peter. 

“Mr. Stark?”  Peter asked, turning to him for help on what to do. 

“I’ll deal with it, kid,”  Tony promised.  “For now, it’s bedrest and nothing but easy living.” 

* * *

When Peter was able to return to school, Tony went with him.  He knew the press would be all over Peter the minute he returned and he also knew Peter would not like that.  Happy had offered to come instead, but Tony knew Peter would feel safer with himself than Happy.  The kid loved Happy, but Iron Man was a superhero and what better protection from the press than an angry, superhero not-dad?  Peter had argued, of course, saying he would be fine.  Tony had none of it and got up early Monday morning, a week and a half after the incident, just to drive Peter to school.  As expected, paparazzi swarmed them outside the school and kids surrounded them inside. 

“It’s okay,”  Tony quietly told Peter.  He put a hand on Peter’s shoulder and steered him through the crowd of kids.  Peter went to his locker and grabbed his books.  When he shut his locker and turn to his right, he came face to face with Flash. 

“Hey, Peter!”  Flash said.  He looked at Tony in awe and Tony returned it with a look of irritation.  “I’m so glad you’re better!”  Flash hugged Peter tightly and Peter groaned.  His shoulder still hurt and he was 73% sure Flash knew that. 

“Get off of him,”  Tony said, pulling Peter away from Flash.  Peter hadn’t told him anything about Flash other than that he was a classmate, but Tony wasn’t blind.  He knew someone had been bullying his kid and based on how Peter acted around Flash, Flash was the one that bullied him. 

“Wow, you really do know Tony Stark,”  Flash said, looking back at Tony in wonder.  “Hey, think you could give me an internship like Pen-Peter’s?”  Flash barely corrected himself in time but Tony still caught it. 

“Sorry,”  Tony said.  “Stark doesn’t hire bullies.  Now if you’ll excuse us, we have a class to get to.”  Tony gently pushed Peter around Flash and Peter walked down the hall to his first class. 

“How did you know?”  Peter asked Tony.  He looked up at his mentor who just smiled. 

“You can always tell,”  Tony said.  “And you’re not the best at keeping secrets.”  Peter sighed. 

“He’s a good kid,”  Peter told him.  Tony silently disagreed.  “Please don’t ruin his life.  I’m sure he’ll stop bullying people now that he knows Spider-Man goes to his school and knows Iron Man.” 

“You can’t be sure of that,” Tony pointed out.  Peter looked down at his desk as he sat in the back. 

“Just promise you’ll leave him alone?”  Peter asked.  Tony obviously didn’t want to, but Peter had perfected the puppy dog eyes and Tony couldn’t say no. 

“I promise,”  he said.  Peter grinned and hugged him tightly. 

“Thanks, Dad,”  he whispered.  Tony froze. 

“What?”  he asked.  He knew what Peter had said, he just wanted to be sure.  Peter immediately turned red and pulled away from Tony. 

“I just said ‘thanks’,”  Peter lied.  Tony nodded hesitantly. 

“Okay,”  he replied.  Peter awkwardly turned in his seat to face the front and Tony asked FRIDAY to reply the audio in his ear comm.  She did and Tony didn’t stop smiling all day. 


	24. Farmer's Market Mayhem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this request has Uncle Bucky! Yay!

Peter, Tony noted, liked to bounce when he was excited.  This meant that Peter bounced often, making sure he had plenty of exercise even without being Spider-Man.  When Tony asked Peter if he wanted to join him and Bucky on a trip to the farmer's market (Bucky asked if he could go and Pepper made Tony join), he expected Peter to start bouncing.  However, he didn't expect him to bounce this much.  He was worried the kid was going to turn into a rocket soon and leave a hole in the roof of his car.  The second Tony parked the car, Peter was jumping out and waiting for Bucky and Tony to get out as well. 

"Alright, you go show Underoos around,"  Tony said.  He pulled out his phone.  "I have to do some work, but I'll stay here."  Bucky and Peter nodded then took off.  Bucky showed Peter where his favourite stands used to be back in the 1940s and Peter took Bucky to the current stands that he liked best.  After doing a full lap around the market, it had been nearly two hours and Peter figured Tony would be about ready to leave. 

"Divide and conquer,"  Bucky said when Peter told him they should hurry up.  Peter nodded and walked around the market, searching for everything on Pepper's list of things she wanted him to pick up.  Bucky was searching for his own shopping list which was just over half of Pepper's.  Peter moved faster, though, so they agreed to meet up at the entrance to the park in ten minutes. 

"Yo, Penis!"  someone yelled.  Peter turned around, looking for the voice only to see Flash smirking and walking towards him.  Peter sighed and folded up Pepper's list, shoving it in his pocket along with his change.  He grabbed the bag of fresh tomatoes off the table and tried to walk away from Flash.  It didn't work.  Flash grabbed his shoulder and jerked him back roughly. 

"What, Flash?"  Peter asked.  He still had to get blueberries (Tony's request) and a birthday gift for May.  He'd already dropped an armful of Pepper's groceries off at the car and was working on the last three things.  Why couldn't Flash just let him finish in peace? 

"Tony Stark's here, did you know?"  Flash asked.  Peter nodded.  Of course the media would be all over Tony Stark appearing at a local farmer's market even if he was just leaning against his car on his phone. 

"Is that all?"  Peter asked, adjusting his grip on the tomatoes. 

"You should introduce me to him since you know him so well,"  Flash said.  Peter just looked at him blankly.  "You could prove your internship is real." 

"No thanks, Flash,"  Peter replied.  He turned to walk away, glimpsing Bucky at the blueberry stand just ahead.  Flash grabbed his arm again and Peter pulled away from him. 

"You're such a loser, Penis,"  Flash scoffed, ripping the fresh tomatoes from Peter's hand.  Peter lunged forward, trying to get the tomatoes back but Flash dropped them on the ground.  He stomped on the bag and Peter wanted to cry.  He didn't know why.  Tony wouldn't notice if he had to go buy more tomatoes and he probably wouldn't care.  He just really didn't want Flash to ruin his good day with Tony and Bucky. 

"Flash, why the heck?"  Peter yelled.  Flash just crossed his arms and stomped on the tomato bag again. 

"Too bad poor Penis can't afford more tomatoes,"  Flash taunted, sticking his lower lip out in a mock pout.  He froze when he felt someone's hand on his shoulder and saw Peter giving someone behind him a weak smile.  Flash glanced at the hand and almost screamed when he saw it was metal. 

"You're bothering Peter,"  Bucky said.  It wasn't a question and based on the way Bucky had said it, it wasn't up for debate. 

"I'm sorry, sir,”  Flash squeaked.  Bucky nodded slowly then looked up at Peter. 

“Go get more tomatoes then head to the car,”  he told him.  Peter frowned.  “I’ll be there in a second.” 

“Bucky, don’t kill him, alright?”  Peter said.  Bucky frowned but promised not to.  “And no hitting, punching, kicking, hurting, or maiming in any way, understood?” 

“Yes,”  Bucky said, irritated that he couldn’t physically mess up the bully.  Peter nodded and turned to get more tomatoes.  By the time he had picked out six and paid for them, Bucky was done talking to Flash and standing beside Peter.  Flash was nowhere to be seen. 

“What did you do?”  Peter asked, taking the bag of tomatoes and carrying it with his to the blueberries. 

“I just talked to him,”  Bucky shrugged.  Peter didn’t believe he ‘just did’ anything.  “He won’t bother you again.  If he does, let me know.” 

“I won’t,”  Peter said.  Bucky gave him a look but Peter ignored it as he picked up the blueberries. 

The next day at school, Peter didn’t see Flash.  He was beginning to worry Bucky had made him switch schools or threatened to kill him if Peter ever mentioned him again, but Ned said he saw Flash in Algebra.  Peter didn’t see Flash except for in class and when he did see Flash, it was obvious Flash was trying to avoid him.  He ran out of the classroom faster than Peter could and sat as far away from him as possible.  When Peter asked Bucky about it in the afternoon, Bucky just shrugged. 

“Sometimes you need to give people tough love,”  Bucky said.  Peter wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but he was sure it couldn’t be good.  “Don’t worry.  I didn’t threaten to kill him.”  Peter visibly relaxed. 

“Good,”  he said, turning and walking out of the room. 

“There are worse things than death,”  Bucky muttered.  Peter wouldn’t have heard it without his super hearing.  However, at this point he figured the less he knew, the better, so he didn’t turn back around and ask what he meant. 


	25. I Don't Want An Invitation

"Alright, everyone, listen up,"  Mr. Harrington announced at the end of Decathlon practice.  Peter looked up from his conversation with Ned and the others slowly stopped their own conversations.  Once it was quiet again, Mr. Harrington said, "We have been personally invited by Mr. Tony Stark to come tour Stark Tower after school tomorrow afternoon."  Peter blanched.  Mr. Tony Stark did what now? 

"Really?"  Betty asked excitedly.  Mr. Harrington nodded proudly and Betty turned to Sally with an excited smile. 

"Apparently he heard how we did on nationals and wanted to give us a tour in case any of you wanted to work for him in the future,"  Mr. Harrington said.  Peter called bull.  There was no way Mr. Stark had decided to give them a tour based on how well the did in nationals.  He hadn't even watched nationals.  Peter definitely had his suspicions. 

"Do we have to skip class?"  Abraham asked, sounding more upset than Peter would have if he'd asked.  Mr. Harrington nodded. 

"Only your last class of the day,"  he replied.  "Mr. Stark could only get us in from 2-4PM."  Peter knew that was a lie.  Mr. Stark knew Peter had PE as his last class and that he hated it.  At least something good was going to come out of this.  He wasn't sure if it would off set all the bad, but he could hope.  "I have permission slips for your parents to sign,"  Mr. Harrington told them.  He passed them each a slip then sent them on their way.  Peter just followed Ned down the hall to their lockers, too busy thinking about how wrong tomorrow would go to notice Flash behind them. 

"Hey, Penis!  Guess we'll finally hear from Mr. Stark that your internship's a fake,"  he said.  Peter sighed and opened his locker.  Yeah, he'd forgotten about that part.  Maybe he could just get shot or stabbed on patrol tonight.  He should do that.  Hopefully a criminal would comply. 

"We'll see, Flash,"  Peter replied.  Flash nodded smugly. 

"Yeah we will,"  he said.  He walked off and Peter grabbed his backpack.  He hopped down the front steps and over to Happy's car.  He climbed in the backseat and happily said hello.  Happy just grunted. 

"Did you know Mr. Stark invited the Decathlon team to tour SI?"  Peter asked.  He didn't wait for a response.  He just talked about it all the way to the Tower, asking Happy if it would be too over the top to get himself stabbed, shot, or otherwise too injured to go.  Happy didn't seem to have an opinion, so Peter took his silence to mean no.  When they got to Stark Industries, Peter hopped out of the car, waved goodbye to Happy, and sprinted inside.  He scanned his badge, getting a warm welcome from FRIDAY, then stepped into Mr. Stark's private elevator. 

"Mr. Stark is in a meeting and has asked me to tell you he will be up in approximately ten minutes,"  FRIDAY told Peter.  He nodded.  "Miss Potts is upstairs expecting your arrival." 

"Awesome!"  Peter grinned.  He hadn't seen Pepper in a long time.  She always seemed to be gone or busy when he swung (sometimes literal) by the Tower after school or on weekends.  When the elevator doors opened, Peter walked out and into the kitchen.  He always got a snack when he first arrived and this time he was thrilled to discover cookies sitting on the counter. 

"Don't eat them all!"  Pepper called from the living room.  Peter took three, promising to come back for more later, then walked into the living room to see Pepper. 

"Hi, Pepper!"  Peter said.  He'd taken to calling her Pepper as soon as she scolded him for saying 'Miss Potts'.  Mr. Stark grumbled about him still saying 'Mr. Stark', but at this point Peter did it just to annoy him.  Every time he was called Underoos, Mr. Stark was called Mr. Stark instead of Tony.  Sometimes Peter used the dreaded 'Mr. Anthony'.  It got the expected response. 

"Hey, Peter,"  Pepper smiled.  Peter sat on the couch beside her, not getting close enough to look at her laptop screen as he knew she didn't like it.  "How was school?" 

"It was good,"  Peter said, taking a bite of his cookie.  He looked down at it, amazed by how wonderful it tasted.  "These are heaven,"  he said, quickly eating the rest of it. 

"I'm glad you like them,"  Pepper said, closing her laptop and setting it on the coffee table.  "Have you had any tests recently?"  Peter nodded, not wanting to stop eating his cookies to give a verbal reply.  "I bet you did well."  Peter nodded again.  "Are you just going to eat the cookies instead of talking to me?"  Pepper teased.  Peter blushed and finished the cookie that was in his mouth. 

"Sorry,"  he said.  Pepper just laughed and shook her head, telling him it was fine. 

"You can have the rest if you really like them,"  she told him.  Peter's face lit up. 

"Really?"  he asked.  Pepper nodded and he jumped over the back of the couch in his hurry to get to them.  He brought the plate of 18 cookies back into the living room with him and grinned down at it.  He would have to finish them before Mr. Stark came in or else he would have to share. 

* * *

Peter was trying to convince Ned to break his arm.  It was time to load the bus and leave for Stark Tower.  Apparently they were leaving halfway through the second class period, but Peter didn't care.  All he wanted was for something to keep him from going.  No criminal had shot, stabbed, or otherwise maimed him last night much to his distress.  Ned refused to break his arm and Michelle thought he was insane.  Peter told her she'd be doing the same thing if she was him. 

"Peter, you'll be fine,"  Ned said.  Peter looked around, wondering if he could just run off.  Michelle shoved him on the bus, though, and he was forced to stumble up the stairs.  He sat down, Ned behind him and Michelle in front of him. 

"I don't think you understand,"  Peter mumbled, pulling out his phone to send May one last text before he died.  Even May thought he was being ridiculous.  Only Pepper had agreed with him: he was so dead.  However, she hadn't agreed with him getting injured to avoid it which is probably why all the criminals refused. 

"Can't wait to see Penis embarrassed by Tony Stark,"  Flash laughed, walking past Peter's seat.  Peter just grumbled and sank down.  He pulled out his earbuds and listened to music the entire way to the Tower. 

He must have fallen asleep sometime along the way because he woke up to Ned nudging him.  His eyes snapped open and he smiled at Ned, pulling his earbuds out and putting them away.  He grabbed his backpack, figuring Mr. Stark would probably just keep him afterwards.  He followed his class into the lobby where they all got their badges from Happy.  Of course, Happy didn't give Peter one so he pulled out his own.  He told the group to scan their badges as they went through the security gate then clip them on.  Flash went through first and nearly screamed when FRIDAY spoke. 

"Guest badge,"  she said, a green light coming over the security gate.  "Level 1 pass."  Flash struggled to catch his breath, hands shaking as he clipped his badge to his shirt.  Peter saw Happy smirking and knew he'd purposely forgotten to tell them about FRIDAY.  He called the others through once they had recovered from their shock and FRIDAY said the same thing. 

"Come on, Peter,"  Ned said, pushing him through first.  Peter sighed and scanned his badge, tucking the lanyard into his pocket.  He didn't like wearing it and Happy knew him anyway. 

"Peter Parker,"  FRIDAY announced.  Peter felt his cheeks heat up and avoided looking at his class.  "Level 10.  Welcome back.  Mr. Stark will be joining your shortly." 

"Thanks, FRI,"  Peter muttered.  Ned and Michelle followed him through and Happy led them over to where Mr. Stark was apparently meeting them.  Peter could feel Flash glaring at him the whole time and he shifted uncomfortably.  Everything about this trip was suspicious and he wondered what Mr. Stark was up too. 

"Welcome, Midtown nerd kids!"  Mr. Stark said, walking into the room.  Whispers erupted at his presence and Mr. Stark smiled.  "Wonderful job at your national competition.  Very proud." 

"He's proud of us,"  Cindy squealed quietly to Sally.  Sally looked just as excited and Peter rolled his eyes, catching Mr. Stark's eyes in the process. 

"Ah, Peter!  My favourite kid,"  Mr. Stark said.  He pulled Peter into a side hug and Peter froze.  Mr. Stark was hugging him?  He was definitely dreaming.  Or maybe this was a nightmare and Mr. Stark was about to turn into a giant evil lizard and try to kill him or something.  Peter couldn't be sure. 

"You know Pen-Peter?"  Flash exclaimed.  Mr. Stark frowned and released Peter.  Peter scurried for cover beside Ned and Michelle. 

"Yes,"  Mr. Stark said coldly.  He looked away from Flash and clasped his hands.  "Let's begin our tour."  He led the group out of the room, Happy taking up the rear by Ned, Michelle, and Peter.  When Peter tried to duck and run, Happy grabbed him and turned him around. 

"Ah, come on, Happy,"  Peter whined.  Happy shook his head.  "You're not invited to my funeral,"  Peter told him.  Happy shrugged. 

"Your loss,"  he replied.  Peter huffed and followed the group around the Tower for an hour and a half.  When they had half an hour left, Mr. Stark returned them to the room they started in and let them ask him questions. 

"Yes, Eugene,"  Mr. Stark said, calling on Flash.  Flash's face turned multiple shades of red followed by confusion. 

"How do you know my name?"  Flash asked, looking at him curiously.  He lowered his hand slowly. 

"Stupid question,"  Mr. Stark said monotonously.  "Why wouldn't I know the name of my kid's bully?"  Peter's head snapped up, his neck popping with the quick movement.  His eyes widened and Mr. Stark only gave him a brief glance.  That's what this was about!  How had Mr. Stark found out about Flash bullying him? 

"Your kid's bully?"  Flash stuttered weakly.  Mr. Stark nodded casually. 

"Yeah, you know, Peter Parker,"  he replied.  Peter slowly slid out of his seat and tried to crawl towards the door.  "Better known to you as Penis Parker, I believe." 

"I can explain!"  Flash cried desperately.  Mr. Stark wasn't having it. 

"Nope,"  he said, holding up a hand to shut up Flash.  He walked over to Peter who was close to the door.  He grabbed Peter gently but firmly and guided him over to the centre of the room.  Peter couldn't hardly breath.  Mr. Stark threw an arm over Peter's shoulders and everyone stared at him. 

"Mr. Stark, maybe you shouldn't—"  Peter didn't get to finish. 

"Eugene Thompson, you're gonna stop bullying Peter, okay?"  Mr. Stark said.  It wasn't up for debate and Flash got that.  He gulped and nodded.  "If I get reports of you even thinking about him, I'll ruin your academic career, got it?" 

"I don't think you can—" 

"I can,"  Mr. Stark said, interrupting Peter.  Peter internally sighed and made a note to apologise to Flash for Mr. Stark's behavior.  God, was this how Pepper felt?  Having to apologise for Mr. Stark's actions all the time? 

"Yes, sir,"  Flash squeaked.  Mr. Stark nodded, satisfied. 

"Alright, you're all dismissed,"  he said.  The group got up and followed Mr. Harrington out.  Peter didn't even both trying to follow them.  "Alright talked to your teacher; you're staying here,"  Mr. Stark told him. 

"Of course I am,"  Peter muttered.  Mr. Stark kept his arm over Peter's shoulders and led him into the private elevator.  "How did you even find out about Flash?"  Peter asked. 

"You're friend Ned got concern after he beat you up two days ago,"  Mr. Stark said.  Peter paled.  Of all the things Ned could have told Mr. Stark, he told him about Flash beating him up?  "Yeah, don't lie to me again.  I was suspicious anyway, but Ned just confirmed my fears.  Did you think I'd be upset with you?"  Mr. Stark asked.  Peter shook his head. 

"No, I was worried you'd threaten him like you just did,"  Peter replied, giving Mr. Stark a look.  Mr. Stark smirked. 

"I toned it down,"  he said.  Peter didn't believe him.  "Pepper wanted me to show up in my Iron Man suit and blast him out of the building." 

"What?"  Peter cried.  That was probably the worst thing he could have done! 

"Yeah,"  Mr. Stark said.  "I told her that was illegal and I'd just threaten him.  She wanted me to threaten his life, but I'm pretty sure that is illegal too and I didn't want to deal with that whole legal thing."  Mr. Stark waved his hand to demonstrate the 'whole legal thing' and Peter snorted. 

"You two are the worst,"  he said.  Mr. Stark smiled down at him as they reached the top floor. 

"I know,"  he agreed.  "But you keep coming back, so you must have some tolerance for us."  Peter shrugged. 

"Maybe I'm just using you for your money and fame,"  he replied.  Mr. Stark didn't believe that for a minute and Peter knew it.  He was just glad he was close enough to Mr. Stark to joke about it. 


	26. Steve Doesn't Approve

Peter was a little nervous.  Mr. Stark had decided to introduce the team to Peter as both his ~~son~~ intern and Spider-Man.  Peter had agreed to it, of course, but he was still nervous.  It had only been a couple months since the team had been reunited and he really didn't want to be the reason they split up again.  He'd already met most of them; Steve and Clint were the only ones he hadn't met.  All the others he'd accidentally run into at some point or another.  Natasha had known who he was, asking what his real name was.  Peter had been shocked at first, but quickly recovered.  He figured that freaking out in front of the Black Widow wasn't a good idea.  Bucky had just grinned and asked Peter all about his powers.  Wanda treated him normally, not at all surprised.  Rhodey had known before the Avengers reunited and Sam had just told him he really needed to work on his rambling issue. 

"Don't worry, kid,"  Mr. Stark said for the umpteenth time.  Peter nodded, trying to calm himself down.  It was just Captain America and Hawkeye.  Two more Avengers.  He'd fought Captain America before, how much different would this be? 

"I can hear you,"  Wanda said, walking past them with a mug of tea.  Peter quietly apologised and tried to stop thinking so loud.  He knew how annoying it could be to hear things he didn't want to. 

"He doesn't hate me, right?"  Peter asked, stopping just around the living room corner.  Mr. Stark gave him a strange look.  "Just, I stole his shield and all.  He won't try and kill me for it, right?"  Mr. Stark chuckled and shook his head. 

"He doesn't hate you, Pete,"  Mr. Stark said.  He nudged Peter around the corner and into the living room where Steve and Bucky were sitting, reading the newspapers.  Bucky looked up and smiled at Peter.  Peter smiled back, glad Bucky was there.  At least he knew Bucky liked him.  Maybe he could convince Steve not to hate him. 

"Steve, Tony brought someone for you to meet,"  Bucky said, elbowing Steve.  Steve put down his newspaper and looked up.  He smiled at Peter. 

"Hello,"  he said.  Peter gave a shaky wave. 

"This is Peter,"  Mr. Stark introduced.  Peter waved again and cursed himself silently.  He was making himself look stupid in front of Captain America. 

"Nice to meet you Peter,"  Steve said, holding out a hand.  Peter shook it firmly and Steve seemed surprised by his grip.  "I'm Steve Rogers." 

"Y-Yeah,"  Peter nodded.  "I know."  His eyes widened at how weird that sounded.  "Not in a creepy way!  Just, you're Captain America and I stole your shield, so I know who you are.  I swear I'm not some creepy—"  Peter was interrupted by Captain America, something he never thought would happen but was surprisingly not upset about. 

"Wait, you stole my shield?"  Steve asked, obviously confused.  "When?" 

"At the airport,"  Peter said shyly.  Steve's eyes widened as he pieced things together.  "You know..."  Peter made a sound to imitate his web shooters and pretended to shoot a web. 

"You brought a kid to Leipzig?"  Steve all but yelled at Mr. Stark.  Peter jumped at the sudden loud noise, ducking behind Mr. Stark.  "Why would you let me fight a kid?"  Steve demanded.  Peter felt awful.  He was going to be the reason the Avengers split again, he just knew it. 

"I knew you wouldn't hurt him,"  Mr. Stark said, holding out an arm to keep Peter behind him.  He knew Steve wouldn't hurt the kid, but he also knew Peter was scared.  "He's incredible.  He did well." 

"He's a kid!"  Steve exclaimed.  Peter didn't like the yelling, but he didn't say anything.  "Tony, you're insane!" 

"I mean, you fighting someone if I so much as blinked in the wrong direction,"  Bucky muttered.  Steve looked at him with wide eyes, realising Bucky had known and seemed perfectly fine with it. 

"You knew?"  Steve asked.  Bucky raised an eyebrow at him as if it was obvious. 

"Well yeah,"  he answered.  "You weren't exactly quiet when you got beat up."  Steve rolled his eyes. 

"No, about Peter,"  he said.  Bucky lit up and nodded, smiling at Peter. 

"Oh yeah,"  he replied.  He winked at Peter who gave him a small smile in return.  "He's great."  Steve sighed and looked at Peter again.  He blinked, noticing how upset Peter looked, almost cowering behind Mr. Stark. 

"I'm sorry, kid,"  Steve said softly.  Peter slowly uncovered his ears.  "I'm not upset with you, just surprised.  I guess I don't really have anything to say that won't make me a hypocrite."  Peter nodded, still unsure.  If anyone yelled again, he was sure to go into sensory overload. 

"It's okay,"  Peter said softly.  Steve almost didn't hear him.  Mr. Stark turned around to face Peter. 

"Go hang out in your room until you're good,"  he said too quiet for Steve to hear.  Peter nodded, hearing him perfectly clear with his hearing acting up.  He turned and left for the room Mr. Stark had created just for him when he stayed at the Compound.  Once he was gone, Tony turned back to Steve, fully prepared to chew him out for upsetting Peter. 

"Where's he going?"  Steve asked, looking down the hallway. 

"To his room to recover,"  Tony said irritably.  He sat on a couch and drug a hand down his face.  "His senses are always up at eleven.  Loud noises freak him out if he doesn't expect them.  Especially yelling.  Yelling freaks him out a lot." 

"I'm sorry,"  Steve said quietly, looking down at his lap.  "I didn't mean to freak him out."  Tony nodded. 

"I know,"  he said shortly.  Sure, he and Steve were back in the same building and working together again, but that wouldn't keep Tony from splitting again if Steve kept scaring Peter.  "If anything were to happen to him, I would kill everyone in this Compound and then myself, got it?"  Steve seemed shocked but nodded.  Since when did Tony act to protective over anyone other than Pepper? 

"I'll try my best,"  Steve promised.  Tony gave him a sharp look. 

"Your best better be better than humanly possible because I'm not kidding,"  Tony told him.  Steve nodded. 

"I know,"  he replied.  Tony nodded and got up.  Now that they had gotten that over with, he had a kid to go comfort.  He turned and walked down the hall to Peter's room.  He knocked on the door and opened in, peering in to see Peter grinning happily as he laid on his bed. 

"You good, kid?"  he asked, walking into Peter's room.  Peter turned his head and nodded, smiling at Mr. Stark. 

"Did you mean everything you told Steve?"  he asked.  Mr. Stark sighed.  Of course Peter would have been able to hear that. 

"Yeah,"  he said.  Peter's smile widened and he threw himself at Mr. Stark, hugging him tightly.  Mr. Stark hugged him back, patting his back.  "Every word, Underoos." 

 


	27. An Angry Witch is a Scary Witch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a little shorter than the last few, so I'm sorry about that. However, I thought this was a cute idea to incorporate protective sister Wanda.

Wanda couldn't wait.  She was the one picking Peter up after school and they were going to hang out for the afternoon  She hadn't known the fifteen year old Stark very long, but she had become best friends with him quickly.  He was absolutely adorable and unlike others, he loved her magic.  He found it comforting and often asked her to show it to him.  He would watch wide eyed, liked a little kid on Christmas, every time she used it.  She had been the first one to discover he had nightmares after his dreams joined hers one night.  After that, she'd helped him figure out ways to sleep peacefully.  He'd become her baby brother.  So yes, she loved Stark's kid.  Sue her. 

"Can I go in and get him?"  Wanda asked Natasha.  She couldn't drive yet, so Natasha had come, promising to not interfere with the fun afternoon Wanda had planned. 

"Yeah, he'd love that,"  Natasha answered, smiling at her.  "He doesn't know you're back."  Wanda grinned, happy she could surprise him.  She had been on a mission with Steve, Natasha, and Sam for the past few days.  She hadn't been gone long, but before she had left, Peter had been with Pepper and Tony on vacation for two weeks. 

"I'm gonna go in,"  Wanda told her.  Natasha nodded and watched as Wanda all but ran into the school building.  Kids had already started coming out of the building, so Wanda was walking against the flow, trying to find room number 132.  It took her a while but by the time she did, it was nearly empty.  She was worried she'd taken too long and Peter had already left, but that wasn't the case.  She looked into the room and saw Peter and another boy. 

"Stupid, orphan,"  the boy snickered.  He grabbed Peter's shirt collar and pushed him up against the wall.  "I bet you live on the streets.  It's where you belong.  You're just a worthless piece of trash and don't deserve to take up space in this world." 

"Leave me alone, Flash,"  Peter said, trying not to cry.  Wanda watched in horror as the boy, Flash, punched Peter.  Peter cried out in pain and Flash smirked triumphantly.  He turned around to see Wanda standing in the doorway and paled.  Wanda figured he had recognised her, unaware of her eyes glowing red or the red that flickered at her finger tips. 

"Did you just hurt Peter?"  she asked darkly.  Flash was too scared to reply.  "Let me show you what happens when you hurt my brother."  Wanda pulled her hands back and shot her magic towards him.  The red grabbed him and he screamed as it picked him up.  Wanda threw him down the hallway, not hard enough to hurt him any more than he would have if he'd fallen down the stairs, but hard enough he ran out of there as fast as he could. 

"Wanda?"  Peter asked, surprised to see the witch.  She wasn't supposed to be back for another day. 

"Peter!"  she exclaimed, rushing towards him.  She hugged him tightly and he hugged her back, letting himself cry a little.  Wanda pulled back and looked at his face where Flash had punched him.  He hadn't broken Peter's nose which was good news for him.  However, a light bruise was appearing on his jaw and he grimaced when she touched it. 

"I'm sorry,"  he said.  Wanda frowned. 

"No, this isn't your fault,"  she promised.  He sniffled and wiped his face, pulling away from Wanda entirely.  "How long has he been bullying you?"  she asked.  Peter shrugged.  He wasn't entirely sure.  He knew it had been a long time, though. 

"Longer than you've been in America,"  Peter guessed.  Wanda stiffed and Peter's shoulders dropped.  "I'm sorry." 

"Why didn't you tell someone?"  Wanda asked, grabbing his backpack with her magic and wrapping an arm over his shoulders.  She guided him down the halls, his backpack carried by red magic following them. 

"I don't know,"  Peter replied honestly.  "I guess I was worried about everyone treating me differently."  Wanda sighed.  A teacher walked by, staring at her in fear.  Wanda didn't care.  Someone had dared to bully her brother; people should be scared. 

"I don't think he's going to bother you anymore,"  Wanda said.  Peter chuckled and nodded. 

"Yeah, I don't think so either,"  he said.  Wanda led him over to the car where Natasha was waiting for them.  She gave Peter his backpack back and he climbed in the backseat.  Wanda followed him. 

"What happened?  I saw a kid run out and I have no doubt he encountered you,"  Natasha said, looking back at Wanda.  Peter looked at her desperately, not wanting Natasha to find out. 

"I decided to scare Peter by taking his backpack with my magic,"  Wanda said.  Natasha frowned.  "He saw too.  It must have freaked him out." 

"He looked pretty banged up,"  Natasha commented.  Wanda and Peter looked at each other and Wanda shrugged. 

"Must have fallen on his trip down the hall,"  she replied.  Natasha scoffed.  They all knew Natasha knew something else had happened, but she didn't push it. 

"As long as you handled it,"  Natasha said lightly.  Wanda nodded, calling a ball of magic to her fingers to play with. 

"Oh, I definitely did,"  she replied. 


	28. Iron Dad Does Career Day

Peter was nervous, Tony could tell that much easily.  He wasn't sure what it was about, though.  His kid was usually very energetic and worry-free.  Whatever was on the seven year old's mind must have been important, though, because when Tony asked him how the spelling bee went, he just shrugged and said 'good'.  He always talked about spelling bees when they occurred.  He loved those things!  Tony was even more concerned when he asked Peter if he wanted fruit leather and he said no.  Even strawberry flavoured fruit leather wouldn't do that trick.  That's when Tony decided to ask him what was wrong. 

"My class is having a parent career day next Tuesday,"  Peter said quietly, nibbling on the fruit strip Tony had given him anyway.  "We have to bring a parent to come talk to the class." 

"Why's that a bad thing?"  Tony asked.  He didn't think Peter was that embarrassed about him.  Even if he was, he could always ask Pepper and she would be thrilled to go. 

"Cause you and Mama can't come,"  Peter said.  Tony frowned.  "You're always busy and Mama is away in Ven-nice."  Tony sighed.  Pepper was in Venice for a conference and he was responsible for holding down the Tower while she was away.  It would be near impossible to get to Peter's career day, but he figured he could make the time. 

"Tell your teacher I'll be coming,"  Tony told him.  Peter looked up hopefully.  His dad was really going to come? 

"You'll come for sure?"  Peter asked eagerly.  Tony promised he would, not sure how he would keep his promise but knowing he would.  Even if it meant leaving Happy in charge of going to all his meetings, he was going to Peter's career day. 

"Should I come as Iron Man?"  Tony asked.  Peter nodded excitedly.  Finally the other kids would see he had a dad too!  They wouldn't be able to say he was lame when they discover Iron Man was his dad.  Peter couldn't wait for Tuesday. 

* * *

Peter sat with Ned at lunch, kicking his legs underneath him at his table.  Parents were starting to arrive for career day, each one sitting by their child or talking to each other.  Ned's mom walked in and smiled at the two boys.  She said hello to some of her parent friends then went over to Peter and Ned.  She pulled out two chocolate bars, one for each of them, and they both squealed, reaching back to hug her tightly.  Mrs. Leeds had been Peter's surrogate mother when it came to most parent events.  His parents had never come to one before, so she took him under her wing and he became her second son.  She knew who they were and why they hadn't come before. 

"Thank you so much, Mrs. Leeds!"  Peter said.  Mrs. Leeds helped them open the wrapper then sat between them. 

"You're welcome, Peter,"  she said.  Ned thanked his mom too and she kissed his forehead.  "Are your parents coming?"  Peter nodded happily. 

"Daddy said he'd come!"  he said excitedly.  Mrs. Leeds grinned, happy for Peter but concerned about it getting out to the press; that was something all three adults were concerned about. 

"Where is he?"  Mrs. Leeds asked.  Peter shrugged. 

"He'll be here,"  he said, trusting his dad to keep his promise. 

* * *

Peter was getting anxious.  His dad still wasn't here and everyone was already gathered in Mr. Jones's classroom.  Mrs. Leeds was talking to Mr. Jones, begging him to wait just a little longer for Peter's dad.  Mr. Jones obviously didn't want to, but promised they could wait five more minutes.  Mrs. Leeds then stepped out of the classroom to try and call Tony, demanding to know why he wasn't there. 

"Hey, Peter,"  Flash said, walking up to Peter.  His dad was talking on the phone behind him.  "Where's your daddy?  Oh wait!  You don't have one."  Flash laughed and Peter frowned. 

"Yes, I do, Flash,"  Peter replied.  Flash crossed his arms, staring at Peter doubtfully.  "He'll be here soon.  He's Iron Man." 

"No, he's not,"  Mr. Thompson said.  He didn't like crazy stories and little kids making up something like that were no exceptions.  "Tony Stark doesn't have a kid." 

"Yeah, he does!"  Ned exclaimed, standing up for his best friend.  Mr. Thompson sighed, not wanting to put up with little kids' stupid ideas. 

"Come on, Eugene,"  Mr. Thompson said, guiding Flash away.  "You shouldn't hang out with silly stupid kids like that."  Peter sighed and put his head on his desk.  His dad wasn't going to come after all.  He knew he shouldn't have said anything in the first place.  He'd just gotten his hopes up. 

"Peter!"  Mrs. Leeds smiled, walking into the classroom.  "Guess who's here?"  she said, opening the door.  Peter looked up as Iron Man walked into the room.  Peter's face broke into a smile and he ran across the classroom to his dad. 

"Daddy!"  he yelled, jumping into Tony's arms.  Tony picked him up, smiling happily. 

"I'm not the only one here,"  Tony said, turning towards the door.  Pepper walked into the room to and smiled at Peter. 

"Mama!"  Peter yelled, reaching out for Pepper.  Tony passed Peter to Pepper who kissed his face quickly, hugging him tightly.  She hadn't seen her son in over a week.  Of course, they had FaceTimed almost every night, but that wasn't the same as hugging him. 

"Hey, baby,"  she said.  She set him on the ground and looked up at Tony.  Tony took his helmet off and handed it to Ned.  Ned looked at it in awe while Mrs. Leeds told him to hold it carefully. 

"Oh, he could throw it off the roof and it would be fine,"  Tony told her, picking Peter back up.  Mrs. Leeds still told Ned to be careful.  "Did you think I wasn't coming?"  Tony teased Peter.  Peter smiled shyly and nodded his head. 

"Yeah,"  he said.  Tony chuckled. 

"Well, I'm here now,"  he said.  He set Peter on the ground and the suit opened up.  He walked out wearing jeans and a t-shirt, much more casual than some of the other parents.  He told JARVIS to go stand in the back corner and everyone watched as the suit did as was told.  Tony picked Peter back up and Peter wrapped his arms around his neck. 

"We're not too late, are we?"  Pepper asked Mr. Jones.  Mr. Jones snapped out of his shock and shook his head.  "Good.  We wouldn't want to keep you waiting."  Mr. Jones said it was perfectly fine then called the first parent according to the roll call.  When Peter's name was called, both Tony and Pepper went up front, each giving a brief description of the job.  After them, only three more parents went.  Once they were all done, parents started talking to each other.  Most went to talk to Tony and Pepper, crowding around the small family.  Mrs. Leeds said goodbye and took Ned home before it got to be too much. 

"I must say, I'm surprised your son was telling the truth,"  Mr. Thompson said.  Tony frowned.  What was this greasy haired man talking about? 

"Peter is always honest,"  he replied.  Mr. Thompson looked down at Peter who was clinging to Pepper's leg.  People were surrounding him on every side and he didn't like it.  Pepper was aware, trying to get out of the crowd with her son but not having much success. 

"How am I to know?"  Mr. Thompson asked.  Tony frowned even more.  Pepper tapped on his arm, though, distracting him from the man in front of him. 

"Peter wants to go,"  she said.  Tony looked down at Peter who looked like he was about to cry.  He picked Peter up and pushed past the oily man. 

"Want to fly?"  Tony asked, sliding into his suit.  Peter nodded, so Tony picked him up carefully and grabbed Pepper's hand.  "Thank you for letting us come,"  Tony said, his voice metallic through the suit.  "If this gets out to the media, though, well, I know who was in here and you will not go free."  He walked out of the room, leaving multiple confused stares behind.  Pepper stuck her head back in and smiled at the crowd. 

"I’m sorry, he’s dramatic,"she told them.“Don’t worry about it and have a good day.”She shut the door behind her and walked with Tony and Peter down the hall, listening to Peter talk excitedly about his morning before they showed up.


	29. Ross's Last Mistake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cause we all hate General Ross from Civil War and he deserves this.

Peter was terrified.  One moment, he'd been peacefully sleeping in his room (which was rare) after a fun evening with Aunt May.  The next, a team of government officials were breaking down the door to his bedroom and pointing guns at him.  Peter had woken up to find a man yelling at his men to hold him down.  Men had jumped on Peter, rolling him onto his back and fastening his hands behind his back.  Peter didn't know what was going on and May had screamed after him, begging the men to stop.  The man in charge had simply told her that enhanced individuals that hadn't signed the Accords were fugitives and Peter was one of them.  Peter had no clue what he was talking about, begging the men to let him go and tell him what was going on.  It was no use.  A man had shot him with a tranquilizer dart and he had passed out.  When he woke up, he was in a cell with a thick glass window. 

"Hello?"  Peter called, walking towards the glass wall and looking around.  Every other cell was empty.  He was alone. 

"Don't try to escape,"  a voice said.  Peter looked around the cell for the voice.  He spotted a small speaker in a corner and looked at it.  Underneath it was a video camera.  "We have the power to sedate you if need be." 

"Where am I?"  Peter asked, not bothering to hide his fear.  What was going on? 

"You're at the Raft,"  the voice said.  Peter had never heard of the place, but he knew he wasn't going to like it.  "Please sit quietly until someone can come down to record your abnormalities."  Peter frowned.  Did they mean his powers? 

"Why am I here?"  he asked.  There wasn't a response.  Peter waved wildly, trying to get the voice's attention.  Instead, he got a powerful shock from something around his neck.  He dropped to the ground, muscles spasming as the neck band sent a powerful electrical current through his body.  When it finally stopped, he didn't move.  What if it shocked him again?  He decided to just stay put as he had been told.  Hopefully Mr. Stark would find him soon. 

* * *

Tony was furious.  When he'd gotten the call from May in the middle of the night, he'd thrown his phone at the wall.  It had shattered from the impact and woken Pepper.  May didn't have to tell him anything more than that officials had stormed their apartment and taken Peter.  Tony knew who was behind it.  He just didn't know how Ross had figured out Peter was Spider-Man.  He'd been so careful not to give Ross reason to believe he knew Spider-Man's true identity.  Now, though, Ross knew and by the sound of it, he'd already taken Peter to the Raft. 

"I have to go,"  Tony told Pepper, shaking from the anger.  Pepper grabbed his hand as he raced towards the door.  He stopped but didn't turn around. 

"Peter?"  she asked fearfully.  Tony nodded and she released his hand.  "Give 'em hell." 

"Oh,"  Tony laughed bitterly.  He glared darkly at the wall ahead of him.  "I will." 

* * *

Peter didn't have a good feeling about this place.  The Raft.  His spidey sense hadn't turned off since he got there.  It went crazy when people in lab coats appeared on the other side of the glass wall.  They all carried clipboards except for a tall, grey haired man.  He was wearing a suit and stood near the back.  Peter recognised him as the man that had been in charge of the attack at his house.  Thinking back to the attack, he began to panic even more.  Had they hurt May?  If they wanted to live, they wouldn't have.  If Peter so much as heard a rumour they had hurt her, he would break down that glass wall and kill each and every one of the people standing in front of him.  He wouldn't even blink either. 

"Hello, Peter Parker,"  one of the lab coats said.  "I am Doctor Evan Vasecky.  We're here to test your abnormalities." 

"My powers,"  Peter corrected dryly.  The man in the suit held up a remote threateningly and Peter gulped.  He had no doubt that remote controlled the shock collar around his neck. 

"Calling them anything other than abnormalities does not change what they are,"  Dr. Vasecky said.  Peter stared at him blankly.  Dr. Vasecky turned to one of his friends and told them to turn down the heat.  "First we'll test the subject's ability to withstand extreme temperatures,"  Dr. Vasecky told the group.  Sure enough, the temperature in Peter's cell dropped.  He felt himself shivering.  He never did do well in the cold.  Ever since the spider bite, he hadn't been able to stay awake.  Dr. Banner had told him it was his body going into hibernation. 

"Subject's vitals are dropping,"  a lab coat said.  Peter felt his eyes getting heavy.  His breath came out in puffs as he curled in on himself.  "It appears the subject is going into hibernation."  Dr. Vasecky watched Peter closely as he slowly slid unconscious.  Once he was told Peter had gone into hibernation, he nodded. 

"Wake subject back up,"  he said, writing a note on his clipboard.  Ross pressed a button on his remote and Peter's body seized, but he didn't wake up.  Dr. Vasecky had them turn the room back to normal temperature and Ross shocked Peter again.  He came too, crying out in pain.  His hands flew to the collar and he broke it off.  The scientists and General Ross stared at him. 

"Subject appears to have superior strength,"  one of them said.  Dr. Vasecky nodded, keeping eye contact with Peter as he panted heavily, gingerly touching his burned neck. 

"Yes, it appears so,"  he agreed.  He wrote another note then looked back to one of his assistants.  "Turn the heat—"  He was interrupted by the wall exploding.  Iron Man walked inside, but alarms didn't sound.  Peter weakly looked up at the sound, giving a small smile at Iron Man before collapsing on the ground. 

"Hey, Teddy,"  Iron Man said.  General Ross stared at him with wide eyes.  Iron Man shot each scientist, killing them instantly.  "You took my kid,"  Iron Man said, walking towards Ross.  He grabbed Ross around the neck and lifted him up. 

"Remember the Accords,"  Ross said, struggling to talk.  Tony's eyes narrowed from behind the suit. 

"I'm sorry, what Accords?"  he asked.  He popped his face plate off so Ross could see his face.  Ross's eyes bulged as he fought Iron Man's hand around his neck.  "Don't touch my son." 

"That creature isn't human,"  Ross gasped, feet kicking.  His face was turning purple as Iron Man cut off his airway. 

"I hope that's what you wanted your last words to be,"  Tony said lowly.  Without blinking, he snapped Ross's neck.  He dropped Ross's body to the ground and turned to Peter.  He blasted the glass wall down and hurried over to Peter.  The burns around Peter's neck from the collar twisted his stomach, but he couldn't focus on that now. 

"Tony?"  Peter asked weakly.  Tony nodded and carefully picked him up.  "'Knew you'd come,"  Peter said, head lolling to the side.  Tony's heart raced, but FRIDAY said Peter was just coming out of hibernation so sleepiness was to be expected. 

"I'll always come for you,"  Tony promised.  Peter smiled sloppily and Tony flew up the stairs. 

"Camera loop was cut off,"  FRIDAY informed Tony.  Alarms went off and Tony cursed.  He flew faster and made it to the top deck just as guards appeared around him.  He used his body to shield Peter and flew away from the Raft. 

"FRIDAY, light it up,"  Tony said.  He glanced back as the early morning light became brighter.  The floating prison burst into flames, heat scorching Tony even from their distance.  Satisfied with the destruction of the Raft, Tony turned and rushed Peter to Stark Tower medical.  His medical staff treated the burns around Peter's neck and gave him a bed to sleep on.  Tony called May and Pepper, telling them he'd found Peter and he was in the Stark medical wing.  Both women burst into the room two minutes later. 

"Peter!"  May cried.  She sobbed as she rushed over to Peter and grabbed his hand tightly.  Pepper hurried over to Tony, waiting for May to step back before she made sure Peter was okay. 

"Hey, Aun' May,"  Peter said lazily.  May covered her mouth as she let out another sob, looking at the burns on his neck. 

"What are those from?"  she asked. 

"Oh,"  Peter said.  "They gave me a coll'r.  It made me hurt."  May nodded, biting her lip to keep back another cry.  She hugged Peter tightly and he weakly hugged her back. 

"Did you give them hell?"  Pepper asked Tony.  He nodded, not taking his eyes off Peter. 

"Ross won't bother us again,"  he replied.  Pepper nodded.  She knew what he meant, but this time she didn't try and think of a way Tony could have avoided killing people.  As long as he'd covered his tracks, she was fine with him disposing of Ross forever. 


	30. Princess in New York

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PriNcEsS sHuRi oF WaKAnDa!!!

Tony finished his second cup of coffee the second he heard running.  He looked at Pepper, his eyes showing just how tired he was with two teenagers living in the Tower for the week.  Pepper just smiled and kissed him quickly before going down to her office to get an early start on paperwork.  Tony poured himself a third cup of coffee as Peter and Shuri rounded the corner.  They served themselves eggs and bacon that Pepper had made them sat at the table and chattered excitedly.  Tony downed his coffee without even blinking. 

“Hey, Mr. Stark?”  Peter asked, stabbing a chunk of eggs with his fork.  Tony grunted.  “We can take the subway to school.  Shuri really wants to and I really want to show her!”  Tony shook his head. 

“No way!”  he objected immediately.  Peter and Shuri both frowned.  “That demon train is not fit for a princess.” 

“Oh please, Stark,”  Shuri replied, swallowing her bacon.  She hadn’t had it before coming to stay with the Stark’s and Peter for the week and it had quickly become her favourite meal.  Pepper made it every morning once she discovered Shuri likes it so much.  “I can handle a little train.” 

“I thought the same thing,”  Tony replied.  He pointed to their food and poured even more coffee.  “Finish your food and I’ll take you to school.  I don’t know why you would rather go to public school than spend the day in the lab.”  Shuri had flown in Friday after school and now it was Monday.  Peter had convinced her to come to school with him, but it wasn’t that hard to do. 

“It sounds fun!”  Shuri replies, finishing her eggs then ending with bacon.  “It must be different from school in Wakanda.  I want to be able to experience the difference.”  Tony scoffed. 

“Your choice,”  he said, picking up his mug.  Peter frowned. 

“Isn’t that your second cup of coffee?”  he asked.  Tony took a large gulp then sighed happily. 

“Fourth,”  he corrected.  Peter’s eyes bulged.  “Now hurry up.  If you really want the true American public school experience, you need to get there when everyone else gets there and watch me fight people for parking spots.”  Shuri looked at him curiously and Peter nodded. 

“It’s pretty funny to watch,”  he said.  Shuri grinned and they both finished their breakfast quickly.  Peter grabbed his backpack and Shuri brought a tablet and her kimoyo beads to entertain herself.  She doubted she would get bored, though. 

“Let’s go!”  Tony yelled as the elevator doors opened.  Peter and Shuri raced into the elevator and Tony sighed as the doors shut, finishing another cup of coffee and the two excitedly chatted about their upcoming day. 

* * *

Shuri watched as students passed by her.  Some obviously recognised her, gasping and whispering to their friends.  Peter was getting his books out of his locker while she bounced on her toes excitedly. She couldn’t wait for the day to really begin.  When a large, ran boy walked up to her, staring at her confusedly, she smiled and waved, introducing herself as Shuri of Wakanda, here to visit her friend Peter and experience American high school.  Peter closed his locker door and smiled at the kid. 

“Hey, Ned!”  he said.  He pointed at Shuri and Ned stared at her with wide eyes.  “This is Shuri.  We’re staying with Mr. Stark for the week.” 

“Yeah, how do you know the princess of Wakanda?”  Ned whispered, giving Shuri fanboyish looks. 

“Mr. Stark introduced us,”  Peter said as if it was a regular occurrence.  Ned was fairly certain it was.  “She’s added so many things to Karen and my suit!  She’s brilliant!” 

“Stop it,”  Shuri said.  Peter rolled his eyes and started down the hallway to his first class.  Shuri walked beside him and after a few seconds of hesitating, Ned raced after them as well. 

* * *

”So you really do know Tony Stark, huh, Penis?”  Flash sneered at lunch.  Shuri was talking to Michelle about Wakandan culture and Flash saw his opportunity. 

“What’s it to you, Flash?”  Peter asked, taking a bite of the burrito Pepper had packed for him.  Shuri has an identical one and he was debating stealing her cookie.  She wouldn’t know it was missing if she never knew she had it. 

“I want you to introduce me and get me an internship too,”  Flash demanded.  Peter scoffed and shook his head. 

“No way,”  he replied.  Flash grabbed his shirt collar and forced him to look up. 

“It wasn’t a question,”  he growled.  He turned when someone cleared their voice behind him.  He looked behind him to see Shuri with her arms crossed. 

“Are you bothering Peter?”  she asked.  Flash raised an eyebrow at her.  Sure, she was a princess, but what harm could she really do? 

“Piss off, chick,”  Flash said.  Peter closed his eyes and let out a sigh.  He gave Flash an apologetic look and Flash looked at him confusedly.  When he turned back to Shuri, she punched him in the face.  He stumbled backwards, clutching his nose as it started to bleed.  The cafeteria went silent as Shuri turned one of her bracelets into a spear. 

“What did you say?”  she asked him.  Flash stared at her in fear, trying to scramble out of the way of her spear. 

“I said sorry,”  Flash squeaked.  Shuri jabbed her spear at him and he shrieked.  “Sorry!  I promise to never bother him again, please don’t kill me!”  SHuRi pulled her spear back, turning it into a bracelet again. 

“Leave us,”  she demanded.  Flash jumped to his feet and ran out of the cafeteria.  Shuri looked at Peter who gave her a disappointed look.  “Too much?” 

“The spear was a little extra,”  Peter told her.  She shrugged. 

“I thought it was perfect,”  she replied. 

* * *

Peter and Shuri giggled as they ran down the stairs into the subway.  Shuri has convinced Peter to skip his last class of the day so they could ride the subway and escape Happy.  Peter had led her to the nearest station and they were racing to catch the next train.  They barely made it on before the doors shut, grabbing onto a pole and a wrist strap.  The train sped down the tunnel and Shuri looked out excitedly.  They rode the train all the way to the end before Peter checked his phone. 

“Oh my god!”  he laughed, opening his messages.  “I forgot to tell Happy we took the subway.” 

“Is he looking for us?”  Shuri asked.  Peter nodded and bit his lip to hold back a laugh.  “What?” 

“Mr. Stark called your brother,”  he said.  Shuri’s jaw dropped and Peter giggled.  “They’re out terrorizing New York trying to find us.  Maybe we should head back.” Shuri thought about it then shrugged. 

“Or we can explore New York and see how long we can stay out of their reach,” she suggested.  Peter grinned and they got off at the next station.  It took Iron Man and the Black Panther three hours to finally trap the two and when they did, they couldn’t stop giggling about fooling the two heroes for so long.  Mr. Stark didn’t let Shuri go to school with Peter the next day. 


	31. Take One, Get Two Free (& Angry)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some baddies find out Tony has a wife and a son.

Tony woke up to water splashing over his head.  He gasped at the cold liquid and tried to move.  His hands were tied down along with his ankles, though, and he was unable to.  He struggled against his bonds, looking around to try and figure out what had happened.  Where was he?  Who was the beardless gorilla in front of him and why did he look so familiar?  He had many more questions, but those were the ones highest up on his list.  He figured he should probably be mainly concerned about why they had kidnapped him and why he couldn't remember it, but the man's long arm hair was both distracting and disturbing. 

"Tony Stark,"  the man smiled, revealing a set of perfectly white teeth.  Well, at least the man had some form of hygiene. 

"Gorilla man,"  Tony replied in the same tone of voice.  The man frowned and slapped Tony hard.  Wow.  Gorilla's sure could hit hard.  Tony's face stung enough to cause tears to prick his eyes. 

"It's Oliver,"  the man snarled.  Tony looked at him strangely.  None of his other kidnappers had been so open about telling him their names.  Gorilla man—Oliver—must be an amateur. 

"My bad,"  Tony said, not sounding at all apologetic.  "I got confused with all the crazy arm hair."  That earned him another slap and Tony nodded, congratulating him on his ability to hit well.  This time Oliver punched his jaw.  Tony decided it was best to stop talking.  He was overly fond of getting punched. 

"I was warned you would be stupid,"  Oliver said.  Tony noted there were more than just Oliver in on his kidnapping.  Just how many, he wasn't sure.  Probably more than four if his returning memory served him correctly. 

"So, why was I kidnapped?"  Tony asked.  "I'd like to get out of here as soon as possible."  Oliver smirked and stood upright, glancing towards the door.  Two more men walked in and Tony frowned. 

"We want your tech,"  Oliver told him.  Tony scoffed.  There was no way that was happening. 

"Sorry, I don't give bad guys good tech,"  he replied.  Oliver looked at one of the other men and the man jabbed him with a taser.  Tony's muscles tightened and he seized, shaking as the electric current raced through his body.  When the man released him, he breathed heavily.  That was uncomfortable. 

"I wasn't asking,"  Oliver said.  Tony had figured that much out.  "You see, my boss isn't a very patient man and will not hold back in order to get that tech."  Tony froze.  That meant they must have grabbed Pepper and Peter.  Where were they? 

"Don't hurt them,"  Tony demanded.  Oliver looked at him, visibly confused.  That just made Tony confused. 

"Who?"  Oliver asked.  They both stared at each other, confused expressions mirroring each other. 

"What do you mean who?"  Tony asked.  Was Oliver trying to play dumb with him?  "Pepper and Peter.  Where are they?" 

"I don't know who you're talking about,"  Oliver said awkwardly.  Tony stared at him blankly.  He didn't know who Pepper was?  He figured Oliver would at least know her from media.  Maybe not Peter, but shouldn't he have done better research before kidnapping someone? 

"Hold on, did you not kidnap them too?"  Tony asked.  Oliver shook his head slowly.  "How long have I been here?" 

"Seven hours,"  Oliver answered, wondering what Tony was talking about.  Tony let out a short laugh.  He chuckled, then found himself in hysterics.  If he could have, he would have doubled over in laughter.  Oliver hadn't kidnapped his wife and son!  God, he was so screwed.  "What's so funny?"  Oliver yelled.  He looked at his two men who looked just as confused.  Tony was in tears he was laughing so hard.  It took him seven minutes to recover. 

"Oh man, you're in for a surprise,"  he said breathlessly.  "Tell me, how long do you think you'll survive when my wife and son come to save me?  I'd say ten minutes, but that's optimistic." 

"Wife and son?"  Oliver asked, realising his mistake.  Tony sighed, a smile permanent on his face now.  "You're lying!"  Suddenly, the wall to their right exploded and Tony ducked as a chunk of cement sailed over his head.  Oliver and his men turned to see the attacker.  They were blasted off their feet by an invisible blast and the Iron Spider was at Tony's side a second later. 

"Stop laughing!"  Peter whined, tugging at Tony's bonds.  Tony couldn't help it.  He shook with laughter as he watched Pepper in her Iron Man armour beat up the three men. 

"There's more down the hall,"  Pepper told Peter.  She turned to Tony and Peter.  "I'll get them." 

"I'm coming too,"  Peter objected.  Pepper beckoned him to follow and they ran down the hall.  Tony continued to laugh, watching his wife and son beat up his kidnappers. 

"I was wrong,"  he told Oliver's body.  "You barely lasted a minute."  By the time Pepper and Peter returned to him, he had stopped laughing.  They both took off their masks and he grinned at them. 

"Sorry we're late,"  Pepper said.  "Peter had a Decathlon practice."  Tony just shook his head with a smile.  If people wanted to kidnap him, they really had to take out Pepper and Peter first.  However, Tony had to admit he enjoyed watching them beat his kidnappers's butts.  Maybe he should just let all his enemies find out about his family the hard way.  It was great entertainment. 


	32. Avoiding Avengers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There were requests to see how Shuri and Peter avoided Mr. Stark and T’Challa, so I wrote this up really quick on my break. Hope you enjoy it!

Peter checked his phone as they switched subways, heading back into town after riding all the way to the end.  Happy and Mr. Stark had texted him.  He even had a text from a number he didn’t recognise, but it requested he bring his sister back, so Peter figured it must have been King T’Challa.  After getting over the initial shock of realising he now had King T’Challa’s phone number, he texted Mr. Stark to say they were on the subway, headed back into town.  Peter told Shuri her brother had texted him and she rolled her eyes.  Peter’s phone vibrated and he glanced at it to see Mr. Stark telling him that he and King T’Challa were coming to get them, don’t move. 

“Dude, your brother’s here,”  Peter told Shuri.  T’Challa has stayed in Wakanda while Shuri visited, busy with running a country or whatever. 

“Really?  Are they coming for us?”  she asked.  Peter nodded and said Mr. Stark had told them not to move.  Shuri grinned and motioned for him to pass over his phone. 

“What are you doing?”  Peter asked, handing it to her.  She grabbed his backpack, pulling it off his back, and shoved his phone in it. 

“Throwing them off our trail,”  Shuri smiled.  She hid Peter’s backpack under a bench as best as she could then grabbed Peter’s arm and rugged him onto a leaving train. 

“Is this really a good idea?”  Peter asked, following her anyway.  He wasn’t sure how much trouble he could get in if King T’Challa claimed he had kidnapped the princess and he didn’t want to find out. 

“Yeah!  And you can show me all over New York!”  Shuri exclaimed.  Peter grinned and agreed.  They rode the subway back into downtown Manhattan then ran off.  Peter raced down the sidewalk, Shuri following close behind.  He heard the Iron Man suit headed their way and panicked.  Looking around, he found a fancy clothing store and pulled Shuri inside. 

“They’re coming,”  he told her.  He pulled a few clothes off a nearby rack and pulled Shuri into a dressing room.  A few seconds later, an annoyed worker knocked on the door.  They held their breath, but the worker unlocked the door and gave them an irritated look. 

“This is a clothing store,”  she said.  “Unless you want to try something on, no going in the dressing rooms.  Especially if you’re not alone.”  Peter and Shuri’s faces grew red, but they didn’t have much time to be embarrassed.  They could see Mr. Stark and T’Challa walking around outside. 

“If you let us hide here, Iron Man and Black Panther, the King of Wakanda, will give you good publicity,”  Peter promised.  “For free,”  he added.  The worker seemed intrigued and Shuri quickly backed him up. 

“They’re right outside and we know them personally!  Let us use the back door and we promise they’ll promote your business,”  she said.  The worker frowned. 

“I don’t believe you,”  she said.  She walked towards the front door and Peter paled.  He grabbed Shuri and they ran around, searching for a back door.  They found it just as Peter heard the worker yell at Mr. Stark,  “Hey, there’s two kids that claim to know you personally!” 

“Run!”  Peter whisper yelled.  He shoved Shuri through the back door and they found themselves in a backroom.  Peter frowned, but he could hear Mr. Stark and T’Challa talking to the worker. 

“Hide!”  Shuri whispered.  Peter had figured out that much.  They jumped in a basket full of what looked like towels and waited silently.  They heard the worker say they had just been there followed by Mr. Stark asking to look around.  Of course, he wasn’t refused and Peter was sure they would get caught.  Just then, a door opened and they began to move.  Shuri lifted her head and looked at Peter with wide eyes.  He shrugged with eyes just as wide; he didn’t know what was happening any better than she did.  They rolled down a ramp and Peter knew they were outside.  When they stopped, he looked at Shuri and nodded.  He jumped out, someone to his right screaming, and Shuri followed.  He ran down the alley and around the corner, pushing against people walking the other direction. 

“Peter!  In here!”  Shuri yelled, pointing to an accessory store.  He followed her in and they went over to the hats.  Shuri found a floral hat for herself and and baseball cap for Peter.  He found some glasses and fake contact lenses.  When he held them up to Shuri, she nodded with a smile.  He found her a new wig and then they counted up all the cash they had.  Just barely enough to buy everything.  They bought it and quickly dressed.  Shuri’s bright pink wig looked perfect under her hat.  Peter struggled to put his contacts in but once he managed to do it, he had blue eyes.  He put on the fake glasses then his ball cap.  Shuri gave him a thumbs up so they strolled out of the store. 

“Let’s go back to the Tower and pretend to be waiting for a meeting,”  Peter suggested.  Shuri shrugged so they took a taxi to Stark Tower.  Peter used a fake accent to ask the receptionist for a meeting ASAP with Mr. Stark.  She promised to try her best and they went to sit down.  Peter and SHuRi giggled as they chatted, trying to stay quiet in the silent lobby.  When Mr. Stark and T’Challa walked in through the front lobby, they looked less than happy. 

“I swear, that kid does the exact opposite of whatever I say,”  Mr. Stark grumbled.  Peter and Shuri looked at each other, suppressing smiles, then stood up.  Shuri looped her arm through Peter’s and dropped her head so her hat covered her face.  Peter led them over to the two and tried his best to mimic a rich, suburban mother complaining about a toy malfunction. 

“Excuse me, sir,”  Peter said, his voice a little higher and more self righteous sounding than usual.  “My fiancé and I want your opinion of goats.”  Mr. Stark stares at him strangely, looking confused. 

“Do you prefer spotted or plain?”  Shuri asked, her voice squeaky and painful. 

“I don’t... I don’t care?”  Mr. Stark replied.  “Why are you coming to me?  I’m a technology inventor not a goat farmer!”  Peter and Shuri were unable to keep up their covers and broke into laughter.  Mr. Stark sighed and pulled the ball cap off Peter’s head. 

“You should have seen your faces!”  Shuri said between laughs.  T’Challa gave a a blank stare and she doubled over in laughter. 

“That’s it,”  Mr. Stark said, looking at the both of them.  “You’re grounded.  No more school for you, Shuri, and no more Spider-Man for the week, Peter.” 

“What?  No more school?”  Shuri cried.  She looked at Peter with a panicked expression.  What was she going to do while Peter was gone?  Work in the lab? 

“I wasn’t gonna be Spider-Man this week anyway, Mr. Stark,”  Peter said.  Mr. Stark frowned, then smirked as he came up with a new idea. 

“Fine,”  he said.  “No more Karen.” 

“What?”  Peter screamed.  He dropped to his knees and hugged Mr. Stark’s legs.  “Mr. Stark!  Don’t take Karen away!  Please!  She didn’t do anything wrong!” 

“Next time, don’t run all over New York without permission,”  Mr. Stark replied.  He turned back to T’Challa.  “Would you like to go get a churro?” 

“I would love to,”  T’Challa replied.  Peter and Shuri followed them, grumbling about their unfair punishments.  They hadn’t made it far out the door when Mr. Stark turned back around to face them. 

“Oh no,”  he told them.  “Criminals aren’t allowed.”  He shot off into the air, carrying T’Challa bridal style to go get their churros. 


	33. A Pointless Interview

Interviewing new hires was one of Peter's least favourite jobs.  Unfortunately, his parents were making him do it more and more often.  They wanted him to be prepared for when he took over the company, but Peter was pretty sure he would just hire someone to do that for him.  Like Michelle.  She was already working at Stark Industries.  Her official title was sales manager while Peter was the executive officer, but there was no doubt in anyone's mind that Michelle would be taking's Pepper's job once she quit and Peter would take his father's.  They already acted as CEO and CFO when Pepper and Tony were both gone on vacation.  However, one thing that remained on Peter's schedule no matter what position he acted as was interviewing those interested in management jobs.  Today, that meant he would be reunited with one of his high school classmates: Eugene 'Flash' Thompson. 

"You sure you want to handle this alone?"  Michelle asked, taking a sip of his coffee.  Peter took his mug back and she frowned. 

"Yes, I'll be fine,"  he assured her.  She looked doubtful, but Peter kissed her cheek quickly and got up from the couch the two had been sprawled out on.  They tended to both be in Peter's office even though Michelle had her own right across the hall.  Peter's had the better view of Manhattan and a comfy couch. 

"Have FRIDAY tell me if something goes wrong,"  she said.  Peter set his coffee on his desk and checked his watch.  Flash would be in his office in two minutes if he was on time. 

"I promise,"  he replied.  Michelle nodded, walking over to him.  She pecked his lips quickly before going to her own office.  Peter sat down in his desk chair and leaned back.  He closed his eyes and sighed.  There was no way this was going to go well.  He'd managed to keep Flash from finding out he was a Stark all throughout high school, but there was no way he wouldn't find out if he hadn't already.  Honestly, Peter would be surprised if Flash didn't already know.  He had been all over the press ever since high school graduation. 

"Mr. Thompson is here,"  FRIDAY announced.  Peter shouldn't have expected Flash to knock, but he was still a little surprised when he just burst into his office.  He strolled over to Peter's desk and sat down, crossing his arms and looking at Peter as if analysing him. 

"Hello, Mr. Thompson,"  Peter said.  He had to at least try to be professional or his mom would be disappointed in him. 

"Hey, Mr. Stark,"  Flash said mockingly.  Peter just smiled awkwardly.  "So, you're Stark's son, huh?  Must be nice.  You don't have to even lift a finger to get a job here." 

"Actually, that's not true,"  Peter said.  Flash raised an eyebrow.  "I did have to work my way up.  My mom would never let me just take over."  Flash snorted. 

"Yeah, I'm sure mama's real tough on the poor rich boy,"  Flash said.  Peter sighed and turned his computer chair around so he was facing Flash. 

"FRIDAY, you know the drill for interviews,"  Peter said.  There wasn't really any drill regarding FRIDAY when it came to interviews.  He had talked to her earlier though, telling her to record the whole thing whenever he said that.  As of now, he'd only used it twice.  The other time had been because a really sketchy man had come in and ended up trying to attack Peter. 

"You better not screw up my chances at Stark, Penis,"  Flash threatened.  Peter just looked at him, waiting for him to finish so they could start the interview.  "I'll get you in trouble for racial discrimination." 

"You do that,"  Peter replied.  With that, he started asking Flash the regular interview questions.  Every answer Flash gave was sarcastic, rude, or snarky.  Peter managed to stay calm and relaxed the whole time which seemed to piss Flash off even more.  Halfway through, Flash lost his cool. 

"You don't even care!"  he yelled, interrupting Peter and standing up in his chair.  He pointed accusingly at Peter.  "You're just trying to waste my time.  You won't hire me even if I'm nice to you.  I might as well give up now!" 

"Actually, I would if you were qualified and had the right temperament,"  Peter told him.  He leaned back in his chair.  "I would have hired you if you had at least tried to be respectful and put aside our past, but you didn't and we can't have you at Stark Industries if you're going to be unable to work with me." 

"You little—"  Flash lunged at Peter who flew backwards to avoid Flash.  Flash crashed through his desk, knocking things over and pushing Peter's laptop to the floor.  It cracked and Flash jumped over it in an attempt to attack Peter. 

"FRIDAY!"  Peter exclaimed.  He ducked away from Flash, refusing to fight his bully.  Flash grabbed Peter's waist and knocked him over, sitting on top of him and pulling his fist back.  Peter caught it, looking up at Flash with wide eyes. 

"Peter!"  Michelle yelled, running into the room.  She tried pulling Flash off Peter, but he just turned and hit her.  Peter frowned as Michelle stumbled back into his desk, holding her jaw.  He threw Flash off of him and rolled him onto his back.  He pulled Flash's arms behind his back just as security burst into the room.  An officer hurried over and handcuffed Flash.  Peter got off of him and walked over to Michelle.  She was glared Flash as blood trickled from her split lip. 

"He attacked me!"  Flash cried.  Security pulled him up from the ground, ignoring his cries.  "He's fooling you!  He attacked me first!"  The doors burst open again and Pepper and Tony came in.  Pepper hurried over to Michelle, looking at her lip and frowning slightly. 

"The cops are already on their way,"  Tony told the two security officers.  "FRIDAY has the footage and will play it on the monitor downstairs if they want evidence." 

"Yes, sir,"  an officer nodded.  Flash struggled against their hold, trying to get free. 

"Mr. Stark, sir!  You're son attacked me!  He's not fit for a CEO!"  Flash cried.  Tony rolled his eyes, ignoring the screaming kid and walking over to his own.  The doors shut and Flash's outcries were silenced. 

"Are you okay?"  he asked.  Peter nodded, watching as Pepper fixed Michelle's lip. 

"I think he was a little upset I was his interviewer,"  Peter said.  Tony snorted, trying to hide a laugh and Pepper glared at him, gently swabbing the blood off Michelle's lip. 

"He better not show up here again,"  Pepper mumbled.  She rubbed something on Michelle's split lip then let her go.  "You two can take the rest of the day off." 

"Yes!"  Peter cheered quietly.  He grabbed Michelle's hand and pulled her out of his office and over to the private elevator.  Who'd have thought something good would have come out of a reunion with Flash? 


	34. Hacking Isn't Always Bad

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a fairly short one, but I hope you enjoy it!

Tony was insane.  Either he had a death wish and wanted May to kill him or he had a death wish and wanted Peter to kill him.  If he thought showing up in the middle of Spanish class, asking to take Peter out of class early, was a good idea, he had another thing coming.  His teacher had just stared at Mr. Stark in shock.  All the students had turned to look at Peter who's face felt very warm.  He had no idea what was going on, but he was going to kill Mr. Stark for coming to school and making an actually appearance.  Now he was going to face endless questions on Monday when he returned. 

"Is that a yes or a no?"  Tony asked, glancing at Mrs. Cortez. 

"Um, he... he will need parental permission,"  Mrs. Cortez told him.  Tony nodded, expecting as much. 

"Yeah, he's got that,"  he said.  Peter narrowed his eyes at Mr. Stark.  Either he was lying or May was insane too.  "Can he go?" 

"Yes, I suppose,"  Mrs. Cortez said, struggling to recover from her shock.  Peter hesitantly packed up his things, pulling his backpack over his shoulder and turning to look at Ned. 

"I'll see you later,"  he promised.  Ned nodded, glancing nervously at Mr. Stark.  Peter walked over to Mr. Stark, but he didn't move.  He was staring at Ned who looked very nervous. 

"Are you that Ned kid?"  he asked Ned.  Ned nodded, heart racing.  "You're the one that hacked my tech?"  Another nod and Ned started saying his prayers.  He was so dead.  Tony Stark knew he'd hacked his tech and was going to kill him for it.  Good bye, world!  Good bye, Peter!  Good bye, mom! 

"I'm sorry, sir,"  Ned whispered, hands shaking.  Mr. Stark just smiled and walked across the room.  Ned closed his eyes tightly, waiting for the impact that would result in his sure death.  Instead, Mr. Stark handed him a piece of paper.  On it was a scribbled number.  Oh god!  It was the date Mr. Stark would come to kill him!  His days were numbered. 

"I could use brains like that,"  Mr. Stark said.  Ned was sure his brain would look like every other brain once Mr. Stark put it in a jar. 

"Excuse me?"  Ned stuttered.  Mr. Stark patted his shoulder and Ned braced himself, waiting to be injected with poison or something. 

"Not everyone can hack my tech,"  Mr. Stark told him.  Ned knew that.  That's why he was going to die, right?  "I want you at Stark Industries.  I'll make a position just for you to come and hack my stuff; tell me how to improve it." 

"Wait, you're not gonna kill me?"  Ned asked, confused.  He glanced at Peter who just shrugged.  He didn't look nearly as shocked as Ned expected. 

"No,"  Mr. Stark chuckled.  He pointed to the paper with the number on it and Ned realised it was a phone number, not a death date.  "That's my private number.  Give me a call sometime and I'll tell you more.  Right now, I have a plane waiting to take me and Pete to Lucerne." 

"You're taking me out of school to go to Switzerland?"  Peter demanded.  His class was visibly confused.  Why did Peter sound angry?  "This better not be another Avengers' argument.  You can't keep taking me out of the country whenever you feel like it!"  Mr. Stark waved him off. 

"Call me,"  he told Ned.  Ned nodded quickly, watching as Mr. Stark walked back over to Peter.  "I thought you wanted to go to Switzerland,"  Mr. Stark said, throwing his arm over Peter's shoulders. 

"Not in the middle of school!"  Peter exclaimed, walking down the hall and out of ear shot of his Spanish class.  He definitely got a lot of questions the following Monday.  Especially from May. 


	35. ‘Mama’ Mia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My new short story ‘He Calls Himself the Winter Soldier’ is now available! Go check it out when you’re done reading this! Enjoy!

Pepper sat in the living room, Peter rolling around on his blanket on the floor.  She smiled and stuck a finger towards him.  He babbled happily and reached for it.  She smiled and he smiled back, continuing his babbling as he latched on tightly to his mother’s finger.  Tony was on a mission and was supposed to have come home three hours ago.  She had put Peter to bed, but when Tony was late, she’d begun to panic.  She figured watching Peter would calm her down and she was right.  The baby boy woke up when she picked him up and she had been worried he would start wailing.  Instead, he’d giggled.  She had stretched out a blanket with some toys for him and watched as he babbled and played with the various toys.  She had completely forgotten about her missing husband for a while.  Now, though, she was beginning to worry again. 

“Daddy’s gone again,”  she told Peter softly.  He tugged her finger towards his mouth and she pulled away, gently scolding him.  He just grabbed a toy and chewed on it instead.  “Yeah, he’s out stopping bad guys and saving the world.”  She smiled lovingly at Peter and swept his hair to the side.  He sure did have a lot of hair for a baby. 

“Mumba,”  Peter chirped.  Pepper smiled down and him before picking him up.  He smiled, revealing two small teeth. 

“Are you talking?”  she cooed.  She kissed his face and set him in her lap.  “What are you saying?”  she asked, knowing he wouldn’t understand her.  At least it distracted her from Tony’s absence. 

“Mooma,”  Peter said.  Pepper smiled then froze. 

“Are you trying to say mama?”  she asked.  Peter bounced a little bit and she repeated the word.  “Mama.” 

“Mama!”  he exclaimed.  Pepper felt tears prick her eyes and she hugged him. 

“That’s right, baby!”  she said.  He repeated the word over and over again, glad she approved of it.  “Mama!” 

“Mama!”  he repeated.  She pulled out her phone and turned the selfie camera on.  Setting Peter in her lap, she looked down at him. 

“What can you say, Peter?”  she asked.  Peter looked up at her and put a chubby hand on her face, grinning widely. 

“Mama!”  he cried happily.  Pepper nodded and kissed his head.  “Mama!” 

“Yeah, I’m Mama,”  she confirmed.  She turned off the video and posted it on Instagram and Twitter.  She turned off her phone and returned her attention to Peter. 

“Mama!”  he squealed. 

* * *

Pepper woke up to someone poking her.  She groaned, snuggling deeper into the covers.  She was poked again.  She slowly opened her eyes and rolled over to see Tony leaning over her.  She smiled sleepily and he dropped a kiss to her forehead.  She smiled more and snuggled into his chest.  When had he gotten home?  Wait, hadn’t she and Peter fallen asleep on the couch?  She realised Tony must have took him to his crib then taken her back to bed as well.  The thought made her feel warm inside.  Tony sure had changed from the man he had been before Afghanistan eight years earlier. 

“Hey,”  she said softly.  Tony kissed her again and she curled up to him. 

“Hey,”  he replied.  He laid down and wrapped an arm around her.  “Did you post something about Peter last night?”  he asked.  Pepper frowned.  Why would she do that?  They had agreed Peter would remain a secret until he was older. They didn’t want him in the eyes of the press. 

“Of course not,”  she said, pulling back to look at him better. “Why would I—”  She stopped and gasped.  She had!  “Oh my god!  I completely forgot!  Oh, Tony, I accidentally posted a video of him last night after he said his first word!  I was too excited to think straight and I just—gah!”  She sat up and buried her face in her hands.  How had she been so stupid? 

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,”  Tony said, sitting up as well.  He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.  “I’ll fix it, I promise.  Say you were just babysitting or something.”  Pepper nodded but couldn’t stop the tears that had already formed. 

“God, I’m so stupid,”  she said, her shoulders beginning to shake.  She had ruined Peter’s life.  Now he would never have a normal childhood. 

“Shh, no,”  Tony said, rubbing her arm soothingly.  “It’s not your fault.  I’ll fix it. Now what’s this about Peter’s first word?”  Tony asked.  Pepper wiped her eyes and reached for her phone.  First she deleted the post off Instagram and Twitter even though it already had millions of views, likes, and comments. 

“He said ‘mama’,”  Pepper said, smiling as she tapped on the video.  “We were waiting up for you last night and he said it.” 

“No way,”  Tony said.  He watched the video of his son giggling and happily saying ‘mama’.  “I thought for sure his first word would be ‘dada’.” 

“Well, you were wrong,”  she said.  Tony smiled, playing the video again. 

“I guess I was,”  he agreed.  They watched the video multiple times before JARVIS announced Peter had woken up.  “Let’s go get our big boy,”  Tony said, throwing off his covers.  He walked across the hall and opened Peter’s bedroom door.  He walked in to find Peter barely opening his eyes. 

“Hey, baby,”  Pepper said, smiling down at Peter.  Tony picked him up, wrapping him in his favourite Iron Man blanket and grabbing a stuffed panda.  “Look who’s home!”  Peter didn’t reply.  He just snuggled into Tony’s chest.  Tony smiled and kissed his son’s head. 

“Let’s go schedule our lie to the press,”  Tony said.  Pepper nodded and followed Tony out of the bedroom.  Tony sat on the couch with Peter laying on his chest while Pepper called their publicist.  Ever since she’d become CEO of Stark Industries, she’d had her own publicist. 

“We have a press conference tomorrow morning at 9:30AM,”  Pepper announced.  She sat down beside Tony and looked at Peter.  He blinked at her tiredly.  “Too bad we have to lie about him.” 

“It’s the best thing we can do,”  Tony reminded her.  Pepper nodded.  “Once he’s older, he’ll never be able to get away from us.”  Pepper laughed softly, but she knew it was true.  Peter would never have to face the press alone or any problem for that matter.  His dad was Iron Man and his mom was Pepper Stark. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember, ‘He Calls Himself the Winter Soldier’ is now available to read! You should really go check it out!


	36. Bad Time to Lose a Badge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Go check out my new short story 'He Calls Himself the Winter Soldier'!

Of all the things he could have lost, his badge had to be it.  Peter hasn't even noticed until he got to the Tower and searched his backpack for the badge.  It was nowhere in his bag, though, and he sighed.  Mr. Stark was going to kill him.  He'd already lost it once (thankfully it had only been in the car).  He wouldn't be surprised if Mr. Stark tattooed a badge on him.  At least that way he wouldn't lose it.  He knew it was important as it was one of the five badges with full access to the Tower.  Happy, Pepper, Tony, and Rhodey had the other four and they never seemed to lose them.  Unfortunately for Peter, he kept losing his.

"FRIDAY?"  Peter asked at the security gate.  "I lost my badge again."

"I shall alert Mr. Stark,"  FRIDAY said.  The gate light flashed green and he walked through, trying to convince her telling Mr. Stark wasn't necessary, he probably just left it at home.  "Mr. Stark asked me to inform him when you came looking for it,"  FRIDAY told him.  Peter frowned. 

"Why?"  he asked.  He could almost hear the smugness in her sentence.

"You left it in the penthouse,"  she said.  Peter groaned.  Mr. Stark knew anyway.  He was so dead.  Well, at least he hadn't lost it at school where Flash could have easily nicked it.

"Hey, kid!"  someone yelled.  Peter turned around to see an employee jogging towards him.  The man came to a stop in front of Peter and frowned.  "Where's your badge?"  he asked.  Peter glanced at the man's badge to catch his name; it was Joseph.

"I left it at home,"  Peter said, not even thinking before calling the Tower home.  He figured it basically was anyway.  He spent weekends with Tony and Pepper along with the occasional weekday.  It was like Tony and May had split custody over him.

"I've heard that one before,"  Joseph sneered.  He grabbed Peter's arm and tried pulling him away from the elevator. Peter pulled his arm free; he didn't like people touching him if they didn't know him.  Especially if they made him feel uneasy like Joseph did.

"I'm going to get it,"  Peter said.  Joseph grabbed Peter's arm again, dragging him towards the exit. 

"I'm sure you are,"  he snickered.  Peter stumbled after him.  "You're not the only kid that's tried to sneak up to Mr. Stark.  Fortunately for him, I take my job here seriously."  Peter could see that much.  Joseph was worse than Happy when it came to badges.

"Mr. Stark knows me!  Just let me get him and he'll tell you,"  Peter said, digging his heels into the floor and yanking free of Joseph's hold.

"I'm not stupid,"  Joseph said, grabbing Peter's arms and trying to wrestle him into coming along.  He grabbed both of Peter's wrists and held them tightly, locking him in place.  Peter struggled to get free without using his super strength.

"Let me go,"  Peter cried, tugging free.  He turned and ran, trying to escape Joseph.  Joseph ran after him, yelling for him to stop.  He called for a fellow security officer to sound the intruder alarm and Peter's ears were filled with high pitched sirens.  He covered his ears, but it was enough.

"Stop that kid!"  Joseph screamed.  Security guards came at Peter from every direction.  With his hands over his ears, Peter couldn't push past them.  They jumped on top of him, pinning him to the ground.  Peter was immediately reminded of being trapped underneath the building the Vulture has collapsed on top of him and that set him off.  His sense screamed at him.  Everything became louder, brighter, and he could feel individual arms on each person's arms around him.  He started to cry, pushing people off him and breathing heavily.  It was too much.  The sirens, the touching, the yelling.  He felt like he was drowning in sensory overload.

"Hey!  Back up!"  Mr. Stark yelled, pushing through the crowd.  He shoved the security officers back and stood in front of Peter protectively.  The officers all backed up in confusion, staring as Mr. Stark held his arms out in front of the crying kid.  "FRIDAY, turn off the alarm and activate sensory overload protocol," Mr. Stark demanded.  The alarm went silent and Peter could hear everyone's breathing.  Every heartbeat in the Tower he could hear even with his hands over his ears.  He couldn't stop crying.  It was all too much.

"Mr. Stark, this kid—"  Joseph was interrupted by Mr. Stark furiously waving his hands around in the universal sign for 'shut up'.  "He was trying—"

"Shut up right now,"  Mr. Stark said darkly, voice quiet.  Joseph stopped talking and Peter heard him gulp.  Mr. Stark turned to Peter, not even attempting to touch the kid.  He knew it made things worse.  "Go upstairs,"  he said as softly as he could.  Peter felt like he was yelling even though he knew better.

"Okay,"  he whispered.  He turned and walked to Mr. Stark's private elevator.  FRIDAY opened the doors as silently as possible.  The music didn't play as Peter went up and FRIDAY was set at a volume only Peter could hear.

"Mr. Stark will take care of the security guards,"  she told Peter.  He nodded but kept his hands over his ears.  "He's instructed me to inform you of where you can go to calm down your senses."  Peter followed her directions and found himself in a room.  It was completely soundproof except for FRIDAY's voice.  He walked in and the doors slid shut.  The silence was almost deafening, but he welcome it.

"Thanks, FRIDAY,"  he said quietly.  She told him the headphones on the desk would play calming music if he wanted to hear something and that he should tell her once the overload quit so Mr. Stark could come find him.

Back in the lobby, Mr. Stark was talking to all the security guards.  Employees stopped to watch but when he looked at them, they ran off.  The security guards wanted to disappear too, but Mr. Stark refused to let them so much as take a step back.  Joseph received the brunt of his tirade.  Mr. Stark didn't hold back at all when it came to him.  When he was done, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes, counting to 37 before he looked up again.

"You're all suspended,"  he said calmly.  The guards didn't even try to object.  "You don't get to attack my kid and go free.  Next time, ask FRIDAY."

"Yes, sir,"  they said, nodding but keeping their eyes on the floor.

"Now get out of my Tower,"  Mr. Stark demanded.  They didn't move.  "Now!"  he yelled, pointing to the door.  The guards raced through the security gate and outside.  Mr. Stark turned and entered his private elevator.  "FRIDAY?  How's Peter?"  he asked as the doors slid shut.

"His vitals are returning to normal,"  FRIDAY reported.  Mr. Stark was happy to hear that.  "He should be back to normal within ten minutes."

"Alright,"  Mr. Stark nodded.  He could wait ten minutes before comforting his kid.  He didn't want to make things worse.  "Let me know when he's ready to come out."

"Of course,"  FRIDAY replied.


	37. Hawks Eat Spiders

Meeting Clint was kind of a surprise.  Peter had been walking from his room to the kitchen, planning on grabbing a snack then going down to the lab, when he came across the archer.  He was burrowed in a nest of blankets reading a book.  He didn’t even look up at Peter’s appearance.  He did look up when Peter asked if he was Hawkeye, the famous Avengers archer.  When Clint said he was, Peter smiled widely and ran over to talk to the last Avenger he hadn’t met, snack and Mr. Stark forgotten.  Peter excitedly asked him how he fought aliens and bad guys with a bow and arrow. 

“It was so cool to watch you in Leipzig!”  Peter exclaimed.  He froze, watching Clint closely to see how he would react to the news.  He didn’t seem fazed in the slightest. 

“You’re the Spider-Man then?”  Clint asked.  Peter nodddd dumbly.  “Gotta hand it to you, kid, you did good.” 

“Wait, you aren’t gonna freak out?”  Peter asked.  All the others had at least acted a bit more concerned or curious.  Cling just shrugged. 

“I’ve seen it all,”  he told Peter.  “We have ant men, super soldiers, and otherworldly god things.  Besides, hawks eat spiders.”  Peter grinned.  Clint seemed pretty cool despite what Mr. Stark had told him.  “What all can you do, Spider-Man?”  Clint asked.  Peter began describing his abilities.  He told Clint he could climb walls and Clint demanded he prove it. 

“Okay,”  Peter said.  He got up off the floor and walked closer to a wall.  He jumped up and stuck to it.  He crawled up the wall and onto the ceiling.  He crawled over so he was right above Clint then let go with his hands, dropping down so he was right in front of Clint. 

“Now that’s awesome,”  Clint said.  Peter grinned and unstuck himself from the ceiling.  He promptly fell to the ground, landing on his head and groaning. 

“I can also see, hear, smell, and feel everything better than regular people,”  Peter said.  Clint thought that was pretty neat as he was partially deaf.  Peter just shrugged.  “I guess.  Sometimes, though, I go into sensory overload and ever little noise or touch freaks me out.” 

“Hm,”  Clint said, nodding as if he understood. 

“It’s really bad when I’m in public cause I can’t tell anyone what’s going on,”  Peter said.  He picked at his nails as he said,  “And when they try to talk, it makes things worse.” 

“What if you knew sign language?”  Clint asked.  Peter looked up at him. 

“That’d be helpful, but I don’t know it and May can’t afford extra classes,”  Peter told him.  Clint smiled. 

“Tasha and I know it,”  he said.  Peter didn’t see how that would help him if he didn’t know it.  “We can teach you.” 

“Really?”  Peter asked excitedly.  Clint nodded and Peter threw himself at Clint, hugging him tightly.  “Thank you so much!” 

“No problem, kid,”  Clint said weakly.  He patted Peter’s back.  “If you could let me breath now, that’d be great.”  Peter let go of him immediately and scooted back, apologising profusely. 

“I have a hard time controlling my strength when I’m excited,”  Peter said shyly.  Clint just smiled and let out a chuckle. 

“Don’t worry about it,”  he replied.  “I can even teach Tony sign language since you seem to be around him a lot.” 

“I’m glad you finally remembered Tony,”  Mr. Stark said.  Peter and Clint looked up at see Mr. Stark standing behind the couch smiling at them.  “You ready to go play in the lab, Underoos?” 

“Oh yeah!”  Peter exclaimed.  He got up and walked over to Mr. Stark.  “Thanks, Mr. Barton!  I can’t wait for you to teach me sign language.” 

“It’s alright, Peter,”  Clint said.  He pointed at him sharply.  “And it’s Clint, not Mr. Barton.”  Mr. Stark smirked. 

“Yeah, good luck with that, Katniss,”  Mr. Stark said.  He sent Peter down to the lab so Peter waved goodbye to Clint then hurried off.  “Thanks for helping him.  It’s always awful when he goes into sensory overload.” 

“It’s no big deal,”  Clint said, climbing out of his nest to get more coffee. 

“It is though,”  Tony said.  He nodded at Clint.  “Thanks for helping him out, Clint. I owe you.” 

“I’ll remember that,”  Clint promised.  Tony chuckled and followed Peter down to the lab while Clint stood by the coffee maker.  He was shocked at how much Tony seemed to care for the kid and that he was willingly saying thank you.  What had happened to Tony Stark? 


	38. Reverse Career Day

“Mama!”  Peter exclaimed, jumping up out of his seat to hug Pepper.  Pepper smiled and hugged him, kissing his head before letting him go.  He sat back down at his lunch table and Pepper sat beside him. 

“Hey, baby,”  she said, rubbing his back.  He took a bite of his sandwich and turned to face her.  “Are you ready for this afternoon?”  she asked.  Peter nodded. 

“Is Daddy coming?”  he asked.  Pepper shook her head sadly and Peter’s smile dropped just a bit. 

“Don’t worry, though,”  Pepper said.  She leaned down and whispered, “I’m gonna film it and he’s gonna watch it during his meeting.”  Peter giggled and nodded, taking another bite of sandwich. 

“Is he in a meeting with Mr. Fury?”  Peter asked.  Pepper said yes and that all his uncles and aunt were going to be at the meeting too.  “But not you!” 

“Nope,”  Pepper agreed.  “Not me.  Now finish your lunch then we’ll make sure you have everything for your presentation.” 

* * *

Peter was sure he had put his notecards on his desk, neatly stacked and with one of his mom’s hair ties around it.  When he got back to the classroom after lunch, though, they were gone.  He searched his whole desk and Ned searched his, just in case Peter got their desks missed up.  Pepper and Mrs. Leeds searched the classroom, but the cards were nowhere in sight.  Peter was almost in tears.  If he didn’t have the notecards, how was he supposed to know what to say?  He was going to fail the project and all the kids would laugh at him!  His dad would be disappointed and Auntie Tasha would think he was stupid.  Why couldn’t he just keep the notecards in his backpack where they were safe? 

“What’s wrong, Peter?”  Flash snickered, walking into the classroom with his friend.  “Lose your notecards?”  Peter sniffled. 

“You took them!”  he exclaimed, pointing accusingly at Flash.  Flash rolled his eyes.  “Give them back!” 

“If you ask nicely,”  Flash said.  Peter did and Flash pulled them out from behind his back.  They were covered in grape juice and had peanut butter smeared on it.  Some were torn and the hair tie and disappeared.  Flash threw the cards at Peter and they fluttered around him, landing on the floor. 

“Eugene, don’t touch those filthy cards,”  Mr. Thompson said, walking in behind Flash.  He looked Peter up and down then turned to his son.  “What have I said about hanging around poor kids?” 

“They’ll just take your money and make you look stupid,”  Flash said, smirking at Peter.  Peter was really struggling not to cry, but it was no use.  The first tear trickled down his face and he wiped it away.  It was quickly replaced by another and another. 

“Now my Daddy won’t see me do well on my project!”  Peter cried, trying to glare at Flash.  He found it was difficult to do as he cried. 

“Your Daddy is probably a no good drunkard who can’t keep a job,”  Mr. Thompson told him.  Peter cried harder, wiping his face and wishing he could disappear.  Today was supposed to be a good day, but it was turning out to be awful! 

“My Daddy isn’t a drunk!”  Peter yelled.  Mr. Thompson looked at him doubtfully.  Seconds later, his eyes widened and he frowned at someone behind Peter. 

“Peter?  What’s wrong, baby?”  Pepper asked, putting a hand on Peter’s shoulder.  Peter turned and buried his face in Pepper’s legs. 

“He said Daddy was a no good drunk!”  Peter sobbed.  He looked up and Pepper ran a hand through his curls.  “Flash ruined my cards and his daddy called me stupid and poor!”  Pepper’s eyes darkened and she looked up at Mr. Thompson.  He didn’t seem concerned. 

“Do you know who I am?”  she asked.  Mr. Thompson squinted, trying to figure out if he did or not. 

“Familiar face, but no,”  he replied.  “Why?  Did I help you win custody over your son after your abusive boyfriend tried to take him from you?”  If Pepper had been considering saving him the humiliation, the thought suddenly disappeared. 

“I’m Pepper Stark,”  she told him.  His eyes slowly widened as he recognised her and she nodded.  “I’m the CEO of Stark industries, wife of Iron Man, and Peter’s mother.”  Mr. Thompson let out a small ‘oh’.  “Yeah.  Now, if you’ll please apologise to my son, that would be lovely.” 

“Sorry, ma'am,”  Mr. Thompson said, not sounding sorry in the least.  “I don’t apologise to children who make mistakes.”  Peter buried his face in Pepper’s legs again and Pepper rubbed his back, not looking away from Mr. Thompson.  She stepped forward and pointed at him. 

"If you want me and my husband to sue you for harassing our son and letting your son bully him, you won't.  Now, what's your plan?"  Pepper asked.Mr. Thompson looked down at Peter with a look of disgust.

“I’m terribly sorry, young man,”  he said. Pepper nodded, satisfied, but he wasn’t finished.  “You’re mother is an awful liar and I hope you know she only married your father for his money.”  Pepper wasn’t the only one who punched Mr. Thompson.  She broke his nose with a swift punch and Peter punched his groin, a place Aunt Tasha had told him to only hit if the situation called for drastic measures.  Peter wasn’t quite sure was drastic meant, but it sounded bad and Mr. Thompson and just said some very mean things about his mom, so he punched the man as hard as he could. 

“Dad!”  Flash cried as Mr. Thompson collapsed, hands covering his groin.  Pepper smiled down at Peter. 

“Don’t punch there, Peter,”  she said.  Peter just grinned and she smiled back.  She had said it more for show as other parents around gasped. 

“Mama, can we make up new cards?”  Peter asked.  Pepper looked down at Mr. Thompson who was still groaning in pain. 

“Yes,”  she said, taking Peter’s hand and leading him back over to his desk so they could write up more notecards before his presentation on what he wanted to be when he grew up.  Originally he’d put Iron Man/his dad, but now he wanted to change it to his mom.  It was a tough choice. 


	39. Stand-In Parent

“Why would you do that, Ned?”  Peter hissed at his friend.  They were sitting on the bleachers in the gym, their last class of the day nearing an end. 

“I was worried!”  Ned replied defensively.  Peter sighed.  “Flash broke your nose and a rib!  I had to tell Morita!” 

“You didn’t have to do anything!”  Peter growled.  Ned didn’t seem sorry, though, and Peter knew he was just trying to look out for him, so he tried not to be too angry.  “I’m sorry, it’s just, May already works really hard and now she has to get time off.” 

“I was just worried,”  Ned said.  Peter nodded and forced a smile. 

“It’s okay,”  he lied.  He didn’t want Ned to think he hated him.  Ned smiled back and Peter figured he had been successful in his attempt to make Ned feel better.  Before he could say anything else, the bell rang and school ended.  Peter didn’t hurry; he took his time changing and even took a nice cold shower despite not getting sweaty at all.  By the time he had changed and grabbed his backpack, he had five minutes before he had to meet Principal Morita, May, Flash, and Flash’s parents in the front office.  After Ned had told the Morita about how Flash had beat up Peter, Morita had called Peter and Flash into his office and told them they were to come back after school and they would talk with their parents.  That had led Flash to get upset with Peter and mock him for having no parents as they walked back down the hall to their class. Peter was just hoping May wasn’t too angry with him for pulling her out of work. 

“Penis,”  Flash muttered.  Peter sat a seat away from Flash as they waited for both May and one of Flash’s parents outside the Principal’s office. 

“Eugene!”  Mrs. Thompson exclaimed, walking over to her son.  “What’s this i hear about a bullying problem?” 

“Peter’s been bullying me and Evan finally told Morita after I got beat up,”  Flash lied immediately.  Mrs. Thompson gave Peter one of the meanest glared Peter had ever seen.  He just sighed and pulled out his phone.  May had texted him, saying she wasn’t going to be able to come as one of her patients had gone into cardiac arrest and needed help immediately. 

“Principal Morita?”  Peter called.  Principal Morita looked up from his desk.  “My aunt can’t come, so we can just start now.” 

“Alright,”  he said.  He beckoned the three in and told them to sit.  “We’ll get started then.” 

“Hold up!”  someone called.  Peter froze. He would know that voice anywhere.  “Sorry I’m late.  Got the invite a little late,”  Mr. Stark said.  His Iron Man suit had just finished returning to his arc reactor and he was jogging over to the office in a track suit. 

“Mr. Stark?”  Principal Morita asked.  Mr. Stark nodded, sitting down beside Peter and smiling at him.  “What are you doing here?  This is a private meeting.” 

“Yes, it is,”  Mr. Stark agreed.  “I’m here in place of May.  Patient went into some awful medical thing—”

“Cardiac arrest,”  Peter mumbled.  Mr. Stark barely glanced at him as he continued over Peter. 

“—she couldn’t make it so she sent me,” he told the principal.  “Now, what’s this all about?” 

“Your kid has been bullying and beating up my son!”  Mrs. Thompson exclaimed.  Mr. Stark didn’t even to stop for a second to come up with a list of reason as to how he knew that was a lie. 

“Actually, it’s the other way around,”  Principal Morita said, still staring at Mr. Stark with wide eyes.  Mr. Stark put an arm on the back of the chair Peter sat it and leaned back.  “One of Peter’s friends came to us very concerned after Flash broke his nose and ribs.  The friend provided photographic evidence of Flash attacking Peter, so I called you both in here to discuss what was going to happen.”  Mr. Stark balled his fists to keep from lashing out at the teenager to his right. 

“Discuss what’s going to happen?”  Mr. Stark asked, shocked.  “That kid is going to be expelled!  He hurt Peter beyond just a simple bruise.” 

“My son would do no such thing!”  Mrs. Thompson objected.  Peter decided not to comment and Mr. Stark took a deep breath.  He removed his arm from around Peter and leaned forward towards Principal Morita. 

“You’re going to expel that boy or I’m going to get those photos and destroy this school’s reputation,”  he threatened. Principal Morita looked rightfully upset. 

“You can’t do that, Mr. Stark,”  he said.  Mr. Stark raises an eyebrow. 

“Really?  I can do it right here without so much as lifting a finger,”  he said, tapping his ear where FRIDAY sat in a Bluetooth ear phone.  “Now, expel him or I’ll ruin Midtown High’s reputation and take my kid out of this dump.”  Peter grinned when Mr. Stark called him ‘my kid’ and Mr. Stark noticed.  He gave Peter a small smile and leaned back, looking expectantly at Principal Morita. 

“Given the circumstances of the attack, we do have to expel your son even without Mr. Stark’s threat,”  Principal Morita said, glancing worriedly at said man.  Mr. Stark watched him closely and Mrs. Thompson looked personally offended. 

“You believe this boy’s lies?”  she shrieked.  Principal Morita grimaced at the sound and Peter jumped, his ears ringing for a few seconds after. 

“Ma’am, please remain calm,”  Principal Morita said, raising his hands to motion for her to calm down.  That did the exact opposite.  She screamed and Peter covered his ears tightly.  Mrs. Thompson stood up, grabbed Flash’s arm, then pulled him out of the office, telling him they would find a better school since Midtown turned out to be corrupted. 

“Thank you, Principal Mango,”  Mr. Stark said.  He stood up and Peter copied him. 

“It’s Morita,”  Principal Morita corrected.  Mr. Stark apologised then wrapped an arm around Peter. 

“How about we get some ice cream?”  he asked, guiding Peter out of the building. 

“I could go for ice cream,”  Peter replied. Mr. Stark smiled. 

“Good,”  he said.  “Then ice cream it is.” 


	40. Peter Parker? More Like Peter LIAR!

Peter was pretty sure he was being followed.  He couldn’t help but feel like the taxi behind him had been behind him ever since he left school.  He didn’t tell Happy, not wanting to concern the driver, so he brushed it off.  Happy dropped him off at the curb of the Stark home and Peter climbed out.  He waved goodbye to Happy who sped off for the airport to pick up Tony from a mission.  After Peter had convinced his parents to let him go to Midtown Tech for high school, they had bought a house in a richer suburb near the school.  Pepper was often able to stay all week long, but Tony had to go back and forth.  Sometimes Pepper would be stuck at the Tower so it would just be Peter and Tony.  If neither Tony nor Pepper were able to stay with him, he got to spend the night with Ned.  Tonight, though, was one of the nights both parents would be home and Tony had just finished a two week long mission, so Pepper and Peter were planning a special dinner for him. 

“Mama!  I’m home!”  Peter called, walking into the house.  He glanced outside where he saw the taxi parked beside the curb a few houses down.  He frowned but shut the door.  That was strange. 

“Oh good!”  Pepper exclaimed from the kitchen.  Peter dropped his backpack by the door and greeted Zoomie, the robot that stayed in this house and made sure everything was clean.  Tony had named it.  “You can help me make the fudge!” 

“We get fudge?  I love fudge!”  Peter said happily.  Pepper smiled and kissed his forehead as he walked passed her.  She told him to stir it while she read what to do next on the recipe.  She knew the recipe by heart, but she wanted to make sure it was perfect. 

“I know,”  she replied, skimming through the directions.  “So does your father which is why I’m making it.” 

“How come he gets fudge but I don’t?”  Peter mumbled.  Pepper gave him a look and he smiled innocently.  Zoomie made a sound of distress, beeping repeatedly. 

“Can you go help Zoomie?”  Pepper asked.  She took over the stirring, taking the pot off the oven, and Peter rushed over to Zoomie.  Zoomie was hitting the door over and over again as if trying to go outside.  Peter smiled. 

“You want to see what’s outside?”  he teased.  He pulled open the door and stared in shock.  Ned and Michelle stood on his front steps, both trying to pretend they had not been looking through the small door window. 

“Hey, Peter,”  they both said. 

“Fancy seeing you here,”  Ned said awkwardly.  Peter blinked at them then snatched up Zoomie before he could escape. 

“Ned, I live here,”  Peter said as if it was obvious.  He set Zoomie down and he took off towards the guest suite.  “What are you two doing here?” 

“We wanted to see where you live,”  Michelle said.  That didn’t sound creepy.  Michelle realised this and tried to correct herself.  “It’s just, we’ve never been to your house and you’re always so secretive about it so we figured you lived in a garbage bin.  Turns out we were a little wrong.” 

“Dude, you’re rich!”  Ned exclaimed.  Peter smiled awkwardly and scratched his neck. 

“Um, a little, yeah,”  he agreed.  Ned peered around Peter and his eyes widened. 

“Who’s at the door, Peter?”  Pepper asked, walking out of the kitchen, stirring the pot of hot fudge.  She looked up and smiled at Ned and Michelle.  “Hello.  You must be Ned and Michelle.” 

“You’re Pepper Stark!”  Ned wheezed, his voice much higher than normal.  Pepper nodded, glancing down at the fudge that was beginning to thicken as it slowly cooled. 

“Yes, I am,”  she replied with a smile.  “Can I help you with something?”  Ned shook his head with wide eyes. 

“No, ma’am,”  he said.  She smiled and returned to the kitchen to pour the fudge into a pan before it got too thick to pour. 

“Dude, how do you know Pepper Stark?” Michelle asked, punching Peter’s arm.  “Is she like the lady you work for?  You clean her house or something?” 

“What is Mrs. Stark even doing here?”  Ned asked, confused.  “How do you know her?  He still could live in a garbage bin if this is Mrs. Stark’s house,”  Ned pointed out to Michelle.  She nodded, looking at Peter who felt more and more awkward as the conversation continued. 

“Actually, this is my house,”  Peter told them.  He glanced back to where his mom had been and sighed.  “That’s my mom.”  Ned and Michelle’s jaws dropped at the same time. 

“What?”  they yelled.  Peter nodded. 

“And Tony Stark is sort of my dad,”  he told them quietly.  Their jaws dropped even more.  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.  It’s just, we didn’t want the press finding out so I had to use a fake name at school.” 

“What about Flash?”  Ned asked.  Peter whipped around to make sure Pepper hadn’t heard that then turned back and glared at Ned.  “If he knew you were Tony Stark’s son, he’d never bully you again!” 

“A little louder, would you, Ned?”  Peter hissed.  Ned’s eyes widened as he realised Peter’s parents didn’t know about Flash. 

“They don’t know?”  Ned whisper yelled. Peter rolled his eyes. 

“Of course not!”  he whispered back.  “Flash would be dead by now if they did.” 

“Why are you whispering?”  Pepper whispered loudly.  Peter and Ned both jumped, letting out identical screams.  Michelle grinned and Pepper laughed. 

“Mom!”  Peter whined.  Pepper smiled. 

“How about you two come help us make dinner?”  Pepper suggested.  She figured she might as well get to know Peter’s friends now that they knew about her and Tony being his parents.  “Tony will be back in about two hours.  You’re welcome to stay for dinner.” 

“Really?”  Ned exclaimed.  Pepper nodded and Ned looked at Peter, obviously struggling to contain his excitement.  “I’ll tell my mom!” 

“Me too,”  Michelle said.  They both texted their parents then walked inside the house.  Peter shut the door behind them, grumbling about how he gave it three days before Ned spilled the news about him being a Stark to someone and the media found out.  Surprisingly—and thankfully—it never happened.  He did pass out when Tony Stark showed up for dinner.  Neither Peter nor Michelle let him live that down. 


	41. Assisted Tripping

Peter was running around the track, trying to beat the high score.  He didn’t care about not hiding his super human abilities; he just wanted to beat the record.  Coach Lenning had promised everyone that beat the record could skip PE for the rest of the year (it was November) and pass with an A.  Peter was not going to pass that up just to prevent people from getting suspicious.  If he could skip PE, he was going to; and he was doing well.  He’d already lapped his class once and was about to lap them again.  Even Coach Lenning was watching with a slack jaw.  He had no doubt Peter would beat the school record.  At least, until he came crashing down. 

Peter was passing Flash when Flash kicked him.  He hadn’t been expecting it and stumbled.  Since he was going so fast, he fell to the ground with a hard _splat_  and cried out in pain when his arm screamed in protest.  Flash came to a slow stop along with everyone else while Coach Lenning came running over.  How had Peter hurt himself?  He knelt down and Peter gasped, grabbing his arm and wishing spiders couldn’t feel pain. 

“That looks bad, Parker,”  Coach Lenning said.  He helped Peter to his feet.  “Let’s get you to the nurse.”  Peter didn’t even try to object.  He was is pain, yes, but he would now have to go to PE as he hadn’t finished the three laps. 

“Coach, do I still have to go to PE?”  he asked quietly, walking with Coach Lenning to the nurse. 

“No,”  he replied.  He glanced at Peter who managed to grin through the pain.  “I don’t know why you don’t show your true potential, Parker, but that’s the fastest I’ve ever seen a kid run.”  Peter shrugged with one arm but it still hurt his injured one. 

“I guess you found the right motivator,”  he joked.  Coach Lenning nodded, opening the nurse’s office door and leading Peter in.  He explained how Peter had been running and taken a nasty fall. The nurse nodded and sent Coach Lenning to tell the office to call his guardian.  She then turned to check out Peter’s arm. 

“Wow, this looks bad,”  she said, not touching Peter’s arm, just looking at it.  “I’m pretty sure you’ve broken it.” 

“Really?”  Peter groaned.  Now he’s have to have surgery and that meant going to Stark Tower which then meant he’d have to explain what had happened to Mr. Stark. 

“Really,”  the nurse nodded.  Peter sighed.  “Once we get ahold of your aunt, you’ll have to go to the hospital.  For now, I can give you some pain medication and try to set it for you.”  Peter shook his head quickly. 

“No!”  he exclaimed.  He didn’t want to be in more pain or have his metabolism run through the pain meds quicker than the nurse expected.  “I’ll just wait.”  She nodded. 

“Tough it out,”  she stated.  Peter nodded.  “Alright.  I’ll walk with you to the office.” 

“Okay,”  he replied.  They walked down the hall to the front office where Peter was then told to sit and wait.  The nurse waited with him so she could tell Aunt May what had happened. 

“When’s Aunt May coming?”  Peter asked the office worker. 

“Your aunt was unavailable,”  Mr. Lent said.  Peter frowned.  Then who did they call?  “We called your emergency contact and man, kid, you must be really committed to a lie if you told him to answer as Tony Stark.”  Mr. Lent chuckled but Peter’s eyes bulged.  They had called Mr. Stark? 

“You called Mr. Stark?”  he cried.  Mr. Lent chuckled again, wondering why the kid wouldn’t just let the lie die out.  “Oh god.  This is gonna be awful.”  He sat back down and sighed, watching the doors for Mr. Stark’s arrival.  Five minutes later, he walked inside and smiled down at Peter. 

“I’m here for Peter,”  he told Mr. Lent.  Now Mr. Lent’s eyes widened. 

“You’re Tony Stark,”  he gasped.  Mr. Stark looked unimpressed as he nodded. 

“Yeah, that’s what I said when I answered the phone,”  Mr. Stark replied.  He turned to Peter and asked what he needed to sign.  Mr. Lent wasn’t turning out to be all that helpful.  Instead, the nurse showed him where to sign Peter out and then told him what had happened. 

“He’ll need surgery for sure,”  she finished.  Mr. Stark nodded and thanked her.  “No problem, Mr. Stark.” 

“Alright, Pete,”  Mr. Stark said, gently setting an arm on Peter’s good shoulder. “Let’s go get you fixed up.” 

“Okay,”  Peter nodded.  He followed Mr. Stark out to his Audi and they drove to the Tower.  Peter’s surgery went well and his arm was expected to be out of the cast within two days.  When he returned to school, he made up a lie about just dislocating it and Mr. Stark’s doctors being really good.  For the most part, people believed him.  The only one who was suspicious was the nurse, but she kept quiet.  She didn’t want Mr. Stark coming after her for calling his kid a liar. Besides, she liked Peter.  He was one of the only kids that was nice to her so she wasn’t going to point out his lie.  Even if it was really suspicious. 


	42. Starks Don’t Like Bullies

Peter placed a purple piece of paper on the counter.  Tony glanced over his Starkpad to skim over it then tapped Pepper's elbow.  She turned from where she had been writing down a grocery list for Happy and read the paper.  It was sign up times for a parent teacher conference.  Apparently they were expected to pick the top three times that worked for them, turn the paper back in to Peter's teacher, then wait for the confirmed time.  The meetings were in three days. 

"Did you just get this?"  she asked, picking up the paper and walking over to the edge of the counter to find a pen.

"Yeah,"  he replied, putting his chin on his arms and laying on the counter.  "Mr. Reed doesn't like me and gave it to me late.  I'm sorry."  Pepper frowned and looked up from the paper.

"Why doesn't he like you?"  Tony asked before she could.  Peter shrugged.  "You're the best sixth grader in the world!"

"Tony,"  Pepper reprimanded.  Tony rolled his eyes.

"You know it's true,"  he replied.  Pepper nodded, saying it was but he couldn't just force Mr. Reed to live in the truth.

"He thinks I'm lying whenever I say your my parents,"  Peter mumbled, taking the purple paper from Pepper and carefully folding it up.  He returned it to his backpack and Pepper and Tony shared concerned looks.

"Don't worry,"  Pepper promised, ruffling Peter's hair affectionately.  "We'll make sure to prove him wrong when we go to our meeting."

* * *

Peter sat outside Mr. Reed's classroom.  His parents were running late and Mr. Reed had already snapped at him.  He didn't want to wait with Mr. Reed any longer, so he went into the hallway and sat against the wall.  It was nearing ten minutes past the scheduled meeting time when he finally heard people walking down the hall.  He looked up just in time to see his mom playfully kiss his dad.  He made a disgusted noise and hid his face, causing Pepper and Tony to look around for the origin of the sound.  When they saw Peter sitting on the floor, they smiled then frowned.  What was he doing out here?

"Hey, Peter,"  Pepper said.  He stood up and grinned.  "Sorry we're late.  Dad forgot to gas the car so we had to stop."

"It's okay,"  Peter assured her.  He hugged both his parents and Tony patted his back.

"What are you doing out here?"  he asked.  Peter pulled away and peered into Mr. Reed's classroom.  He was grading papers.

"Mr. Reed got mad at me so I left,"  he shrugged.  Pepper frowned, looking into the room.  She opened the door and led Peter and Tony inside.

"Did your parents finally show up, Peter?"  Mr. Reed asked, not looking up from his papers.  "Or did they ditch you?"

"Oh, they're here,"  Pepper said, crossing her arms.  Peter and Tony grinned at each other and followed her inside.  Mr. Reed looked up at the sound of a woman's voice and did a double take when he recognised Pepper and Tony.  "They're here and they'd like to know why you're being rude to Peter,"  Pepper said.  Mr. Reed took off his reading glasses, hands shaking slightly.

"Well, I wasn't rude to him,"  Mr. Reed said politely.  Pepper raised an eyebrow at him.  "He's a sensitive boy, as you know.  I simply asked him to stop talking so I could grade.  He must have misheard me."

"I find that hard to believe,"  Pepper said.  Mr. Reed gulped.  "Peter never talks bad about anyone and you must know that.  Why do you expect me to believe he would make you out worse than you are when really, we both know he'd do the opposite?"

"I never said that,"  Mr. Reed objected.  Pepper just hummed.  "You're here for a parent teacher conference.  Should we begin?"

"Please,"  Pepper said sweetly.  Peter and Tony watched happily as Mr. Reed looked visibly nervous at the tons of voice she used.  "We'll start by asking you where you plan to work once we tell the school board you’ve been harassing our son and other kids."

"I am not going to be fired because some mother decided I wasn't fair on her child!"  Mr. Reed exclaimed.  Tony looked at him darkly, silently daring him to insult Pepper again.  "I am aware you are rich but money can't get you everything.  Besides, I can just say you used your money to take out a personal vengeance on me!"

"Tell that to the recording,"  Tony said.  Mr. Reed frowned, obviously confused.  Tony held up Peter’s wrist and tapped the watch he was wearing.  "Bugged.  Now, thank you but no thank you for doing our parent teacher conference.  If you'll excuse us, we have a school board to talk to."  Pepper turned and walked back to Tony and Peter.  Before they were out the door, Peter stuck his head back and looked at Mr. Reed.

"I tried to warn you,"  he said.  Mr. Reed glared at him but he just grinned.  "Don't worry!  I'll make sure they don't imprison you."  With that, Peter skipped after his parents, slamming the classroom door behind him.  Mr. Reed was not at school the next week and never showed up at the school again.  Each Stark claimed to know nothing, but everyone knew better.  Starks didn't do well with bullies.


	43. The Floor is Lava

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What’s this? More Shuri?? Shuri-ly not! 

Shuri was absolutely, without a doubt one of the best people Peter had ever met.  Not only did she understand all his meme and vine references, she would show him ones he hadn’t seen before (which was hard to do) and then ones she recreated with Wakandan culture.  Peter loved it whenever she stayed at the Compound with her brother every other weekend; the two were never seen apart except for when they were sleeping (and sometimes they would fall asleep in the lab or watching or a movie, so even that much wasn’t always guaranteed).  Mr. Stark and King T’Challa quickly learned it was best to just let them be and only interact with them for meals if they had to. 

“I want to make cookies,”  Peter said, sprawled our on the floor of their lab.  After Mr. Stark has been repeatedly interrupted in the lab by their own work the first time Shuri came, he made the two their own lab out of the second conference room.  They never used it anyway. 

“Oo!  I have a Wakandan recipe we should try!”  Shuri exclaimed.  Pete sat up and she put down her tools.  “Come on.  I’m sure I can find it on here,”  she said, tapping a kimoyo bead.  She followed Peter down the stairs and into the kitchen. 

“What do we need?”  Peter asked.  Shuri read through the ingredients, some sounding strange to put in cookies, but they had them all.  Well, almost all. 

“Do you have petisha beetle juice?”  she asked.  Peter looked at her like she was insane.  “What?  They add a sweet flavour to the cookies.” 

“We don’t have squished beetles here,”  Peter told her.  Shuri sighed. 

“Then we cant make the cookies,”  she replied.  Peter rolled his eyes and put the weird ingredients away, leaving them with the basics like flour, sugar, and butter. 

“We’ll just make chocolate chip cookies,” he said.  Shuri shrugged then helped him make and mix the batter.  After they put the cookies in the oven, they went into the living room to wait.  Peter was surprised to find Sam sitting on the couch, scrolling through something on a Starkpad.  It only took him a second to remember T’Challa had brought him, Steve, and Natasha back for the weekend and then he relaxed. 

“What did you two make?”  Sam asked, not looking up from the tablet.  Peter got comfortable on a beanbag he and Shuri has brought out for movies the night before and Shuri laid on the other couch. 

“Chocolate chip cookies,”  Peter told him.  Sam nodded in approval and Peter closed his eyes, deciding now might be a good time to catch up on sleep.  Shuri has other ideas. 

“Hey Peter?”  she asked.  He hummed.  “The floor—and your beanbag—are lava.”  Peter jumped off the beanbag quicker than Steve could run.  Without even thinking, he threw himself at the nearby wall and stuck to it, breathing heavily while Shuri laughed. 

“What is god’s name is going on?”  Sam shrieked after letting out a very high pitched scream.  He was staring at Peter with wide eyes and looked like he was staring at a ghost. 

“Oh,”  Peter said, looking at the wall then climbing down.  He hadn’t told Steve’s team yet.  “I’m Spider-Man?” 

“You’re the—why the hell did Tony let a twelve year old fight Cap?”  Sam yelled, looking between Peter and Shuri for an explanation. 

“I’m sixteen,”  Peter corrected.  He’d just had his birthday and figured at the very least people would start mistaking him for thirteen.  They didn’t. 

“Yeah?  Well you’re still a child!”  Sam exclaimed.  Peter crossed his arms and frowned. 

“I beat you and Bucky pretty easily,”  he reminded him.  Sam gave him a warning look and shook his finger at him. 

“Na ah, that doesn’t count,”  he said. 

“And why not?”  Peter demanded.  Sam let out a frustrated cry and waved his arms at Peter. 

“You’re a kid!”  he yelled. 

“Yeah, well you act like one,”  Peter retorted.  Shuri sarcastically congratulated him on the winning insult and Peter shot her a glare. 

“What’s going on here?”  Mr. Stark asked, walking into the room to see Sam looked shocked and Peter looking upset.  “Oh. You found out Peter’s Spider-Man.  What’s in the oven?”  Mr. Stark asked casually. 

“You let a kid fight at Leipzig?”  Sam exclaimed.  Mr. Stark turned on the oven light and peered inside at the cookies. 

“Oo, cookies!”  he said happily.  Sam couldn’t understand no one else was taking this seriously.  “Oh please, Wilson.  He put you on your ass without even trying.  He deserved to be in that fight.” 

“Okay, that’s because I went easy on him,”  Sam replied.  Mr. Stark didn’t seem to care. 

“Anyone want to go to Brussels?”  he asked, looking at Peter and Shuri.  “I have a meeting with Ross and need to go release some pent up anger.  You in?” 

“Yeah!”  they both cheered.  They waited for the cookies to finish then packed them up.  After saying goodbye to a still shocked Sam, they followed Mr. Stark up to King T’Challa’s jet (it was a lot faster) and headed out for Brussels, Belgium. 


	44. Matching Jammies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My new short story ‘Romanov’s Boys & Their Day at Disney’ is now out! Go give it a read!

It was a good thing Tony Stark had a big ego, otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to walk into the board room wearing an Iron Man onesie.  He smiled politely at all the board members, saying a very quiet ‘hello’ but not sounding any less confident than normal.  The only thing making him stay quiet was the sleeping child on his shoulder who happened to be wearing the same onesie, just smaller.  Tony took his usual seat at the table and carefully sat down so he didn’t wake up the sleeping kid.  The board members watched in both awe and confusion as Tony talked softly when the child stirred. When he finished and the kid was back to sleep, he turned to the members and motioned for them to sit down. 

“This is just like every other meeting, just quieter,”  he told them.  They nodded and sat down.  Tony had to lead them along for a while or they would stop. After about fifteen minutes, though, they started acting normal again and Tony was able to just sit and listen, rubbing his kid’s back soothingly. 

“Dada?”  a small voice asked halfway through the meeting.  Tony looked down as Peter pushed himself up, rubbing his eyes with one hand then blinking up at Tony. 

“Hey, Peter,”  Tony said quietly.  Everyone stopped talking and turned to watch Tony interact with the child, Peter.  “Did you sleep well?”  Tony asked.  Peter nodded. 

“Where’s Mama?”  he asked.  Tony brushed a stray curl off Peter’s forehead. 

“She has to go to a big, boring meeting in Paris,”  Tony said, sticking his bottom lip out and frowning.  Peter smiled at him and curled up against his chest, tucking his head under Tony’s chin. 

“Can we go to Paris?”  Peter asked.  Tony kissed his forehead and smiled. 

“Maybe after I finish my big, boring meeting,”  Tony promised.  Peter looked around as it just realising he wasn’t at home. 

“Hi,”  he said, barely audible to anyone other than Tony.  They just smiled and nodded at him.  He turned back to his meeting and received multiple confused and some blank stares. 

“I’m sorry, who is that?”  the man that had been presenting asked, pointing to Peter.  Peter was snuggled up to Tony, but looking out across the table shyly. 

“This is my son Peter,”  Tony said, glancing down at Peter with a smile.  The man nodded and turned back to his presentation.  He seemed to shocked to continue, though.  “Are we done here, then?”  Tony asked.  A few of the board members looked at each other and some nodded.  “Great.  Let’s go see Mama in Paris,”  Tony said to Peter, standing up and walking out of the conference room, red and gold onesie disappearing once the door shut. 


	45. Avengers Live Stream

Peter stood in the corner of the conference room, pressed against the walls to stay out of the way.  Cameras were being pushed around and people were running to and fro.  The Avengers has agreed to do a live stream to talk about what happened at Leipzig and how the Accords were being edited to fit everyone’s desire.  Peter had been over to help Tony in the lab and ended up trying to stay out of the way while people set up.  The other Avengers were sitting around the table chatting happily.  Sam noticed Peter, though, and made a face at him.  Peter made the same face back and he grinned.  They went back and forth, making faces at each other until the TV crew was ready and they were told to begin. 

“Hello, everyone,”  the host said, sitting between Tony and Steve.  “We are here to talk to the Avengers about just what happened seven weeks ago in Germany and the agreement the UN came to.  Mr. Stark, can you give us a brief overview of what happened?” 

“Of course, Brenda,”  he replied, sitting forward.  Even Peter knew the woman’s name with Beth, but he also knew (like everyone else) that Tony had messed it up on purpose.  He did that even when he knew the person’s name and Peter never could figure out why. 

Partway through, Peter got bored.  He wasn’t allowed in the lab alone after a recent accident, so he resorted to making faces at the Avengers from behind the camera.  He managed to get a small smile from Wanda, but nothing from anyone else.  He frowned, then came up with an idea.  He began acting out dramatic, silent plays.  He had created his own silent soap opera within a few minutes.  He was in the middle of pretending to be a young woman begging her fiancé to believe her, she hadn’t cheated on him, when he heard someone snort.  He glanced over to see Natasha covering her face, struggling to remain calm.  Encouraged, Peter pretended to be the fiancé and throw an invisible vase at the spot he had just been in.  He then went back to being the girl and pretended to faint.  

Sam cracked up.  He couldn’t hold it back any longer.  In the middle of Steve’s answer, he leaned over, trying to stop his laughter but unable to.  Steve turned to look at him and noticed Wanda laughing quietly and Natasha struggling to hold back her own laughter.  He frowned, wondering what was so funny, and looked over at Peter just in time to see him fan himself, bat his eyelashes, and bite his lip in hopes of seducing the Captain.  Steve smiled but Tony frowned. 

“Stop it!”  he exclaimed, getting Peter to stop his silent soap opera.  “You’re ruining my TV show.” 

“Get out here!”  Sam demanded, wiping a tear from his eye and waving Peter over in front of the camera.  “They’re gonna think we’re stupid unless we explain why we’re laughing.”  Peter shook his head, refusing to get up.  Sam rolled his eyes, stood up, and jumped on Peter to prevent him from running.  He drug Peter over in front of the camera and wrapped his arm over Peter’s shoulders. 

“I’m gonna kill you when this is over,”  Peter told him through a smile. 

“This is Peter Parker!”  Sam announced to the camera.  “He works for Tony and is a pain in my—”

”Sam,”  Steve said with a warning tone of voice. 

“—butt,”  Sam finished, giving Steve an innocent grin.  “He’s the reason we were laughing.  Had some sort of dramatic break up play going on behind the camera.” 

“It was a silent soap opera,”  Peter corrected.  Sam rolled his eyes.

“Just wanted to show ya what we were laughing at,”  he told the camera.  He shoved Peter out of sight with a grin then went back to sit down.  Peter stumbled then flipped Sam off.  Steve gasped and Peter shot out of the room before Steve could get after him.  He didn’t need another lesson on why he shouldn’t cuss or use obscene gestures. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, my wonderful readers! Tomorrow I will be publishing my story ‘Spider-Man? Who’s He?’ instead of doing a regular update on this story. Life is kind of crazy and it’s getting harder for me to pre-write chapters, so I’m just going to publish a new story for tomorrow’s update instead. I hope you are all okay with that and if not, well, I’m sorry to disappoint you. I hope you enjoy my new book, though! Thanks for reading!


	46. New Book Release

Hey! I’ve posted my new book ‘Spider-Man? Who’s He?’ and that’s going to count for today’s update. Go check it out! I hope you enjoy it!


	47. Hulk Isn't the Only Angry Avenger

Tony was desperate at this point.  Peter had been missing for a week, there still wasn’t any ransom call, email, video, or anything that could confirm he was alive and he had no leads on what could have happened.  He seemed to have just vanished off school grounds.  All the surveillance cameras were blank, simply showing Peter leaving his classroom and then nothing.  He’d hacked the cameras to try and recover the erased footage, but discovered nothing had been erased. He wasn’t sure how Peter’s kidnappers had done it, but they were good enough to avoid FRIDAY’s tries to uncover them. They were even successfully avoiding a very angry Black Widow, though she had just told Tony she had a lead so they weren’t going to last long.  Unfortunately for Tony, Natasha had told him he needed to bring in the others to help; something he didn’t want to do.  It would mean he had to explain to them how he had a son they didn’t know about. 

“Trust me, Tony,”  Natasha said over the phone.  “There’s no way we’re getting in and out with Peter if we don’t have more help and fire power.” 

“Alright,”  Tony sighed.  He glanced at the living room where Pepper was talking to another police officer.  “Send me your coordinates.  I’ll tell the team to suit up.” 

“Thanks, Tony,”  Natasha said.  Tony purses his lips and nodded.  “I know you don’t want them to know and if there was any other way, I’d tell you, but there isn’t.” 

“It’s alright,”  Tony told her.  “I just want him back.” 

“Me too,”  Natasha replied.  She hung up without another word and Tony texted Steve a text, telling him to tell the team to suit up, they had a mission.  Natasha sent him the coordinates and Tony told FRIDAY to plug them in.  He walked over to Pepper and kissed her head.  She looked up, pausing her description of Peter for just a second. 

“Nat found him,”  Tony said.  Pepper gasped, covering her mouth.  “We’re gonna go get him.” 

“Okay,”  Pepper said softly.  Tony walked into the balcony and his suit covered him.  He sent a quin jet to Steve and the others at the Compound along with the coordinates Natasha had sent him.  He let FRIDAY pilot him to the location Natasha had sent him and only took control of the suit again after he landed. 

“You’re alone,”  Natasha stated.  Tony lifted his face plate and looked around.  To him it looked like they were in the middle of nowhere.  Trees surrounded them and he couldn’t see where his son could be hiding except for behind a tree. 

“They’re on the way,”  Tony said.  As if on cue, the quin jet appeared overhead.  It landed and shut off, letting out the team led by Steve. 

“What’s this all about, Tony?”  Steve asked, looking around the woods. 

“Kidnapping,”  Tony replied shortly.  Steve seemed confused as to why he had called an emergency mission for a kidnapping, but he didn’t ask any questions. 

“They’re holding him inside,”  Natasha said, stepping forward to explain the situation.  Tony was grateful she was willing to explain.  He couldn’t keep himself from scanning the area for heat signatures.  “I’ve got a plan for getting in but any deviation will put everyone at risk.” 

“What do you have?”  Steve asked. 

* * *

Peter was huddled in a corner, arms around his knees even though he could feel the scabs on his back threatening to break open again.  He was quiet, barely making a sound even as he breathed.  He didn’t want to give his kidnappers any reason to come back in.  He wasn’t sure how long it had been since they last visited, but he knew it had been a couple hours.  He had never been happier to be left alone for so long.  The phrase ‘bad attention is better than no attention’ had turned out to be a terrible lie and Peter wanted to meet the idiot who thought it up. 

Peter jumped at the sound of the door being open.  The scabs on his back broke open and he could feel fresh blood trickle down.  He whimpered and buried his face in his arms.  He didn’t need a spidey sense to know one of his kidnappers was coming closer.  He was practically radiating fear.  He stopped breathing when the footsteps stopped in front of him.  Hopefully he could pass out before anything else bad happened to him.  His wishes weren’t granted, though, and the man grabbed his hair, jerking his head up to face him. 

“Wakey, wakey, Stark,”  the man cooed.  Peter trembled, forcing his tears back as he looked up at one of his kidnappers.  The man released his hair and Peter tried to scoot further back into his corner, but found he only hurt his torn up back even more.  The man walked over to the far wall and Peter's trembling increased. 

"Please no,"  he whispered, not audible to the man who was trying to decide what to hurt Peter with today. 

"Oh, Peter,"  the man sighed, fingering a small blade.  He picked it up and slowly walked back over to Peter.  "I thought for sure you would have agreed to getting us into your father's old weapon's warehouse."  Peter kept his eyes on the blade in the man's hand as he walked closer. 

"I don't know how to get in,"  Peter repeated.  It was only a partial lie.  He knew there were four passwords at different levels of the building in order to keep people out and he knew all four passwords.  He just didn't know which ones went to each level and after two fails, the building went on lock down. 

"I really wish you'd stop lying to me,"  the man growled, twisting the blade in his hand and gently resting the tip on Peter's cheek.  He whimpered and closed his eyes, waiting for the man to cut his face.  "Now please, I'd hate to mess up your beautiful face.  Just tell me what to do."  Peter stayed silent, bracing himself for the cut. 

The pressure on the blade slowly increased, giving Peter time to answer before the blade actually cut him.  He felt it break his skin just a bit and stopped breathing.  Any minute now, the man would yank the blade across his cheek and he wouldn't be able to keep himself from crying.  However, alarms started blaring and the man pulled the knife back.  Peter opened his eyes to see the man glaring at the door.  He threw the blade to the ground and stormed out the door, leaving Peter alone with the door wide open.  Even if he didn't have a chain around one of his wrists, he doubted he would have been able to flee.  He was too weak and in too much pain to even lift a hand to his cheek where the knife had been. 

Peter could hear running just outside his room.  Men yelled for backup and seemed to ignore Peter's open door.  Peter couldn't hardly make out what they were saying, but he was pretty sure he caught to words 'Avengers', 'Angry', and 'Black Widow'.  He didn't let his hopes rise, though.  It could just be a ruse to encourage him to escape so the men could just break him down even more.  He wouldn't have been too surprised if that were the case. 

"FRIDAY... he... here."  Peter didn't catch everything said, but he knew the person was nearing his room.  They didn't run past like all the others did.  Instead, the door was pushed open even further and Peter buried his face in his arms. 

"Peter!"  Peter looked up at the familiar voice, his eyes wide.  Natasha dropped down in front of him and stared at him in horror.  She didn't even try to hide her feelings as she looked at Peter. 

"Auntie Tasha,"  Peter whimpered.  Natasha looked up at Tony and Peter followed her gaze.  "Dad!"  Peter yelled, letting himself cry.  Tony knelt down beside Natasha and blasted the chain off Peter's wrist. He screamed and tried to hide from the sound, crying even harder while Tony and Natasha watched.  Tony's suit disappeared back into the reactor and Peter slowly lifted his head up to see him. 

"Oh my god, Peter,"  he said softly, looking at Peter's bruised face and the long slice on his arm.  Peter reached out for his dad and Tony immediately engulfed him in a hug.  Peter screamed louder than Tony had ever heard anyone scream.  He let go of Peter and his eyes widened when his hands  came back bloody.  Natasha glanced at Peter's back and gasped. 

"He needs to see Banner right now,"  she said.  The lashes on his back had broken open and some were bleeding.  Tony put his suit back on and carefully picked Peter up.  He continued to cry and squirm in pain, but Tony was more focused on getting him out of there than not hurting him. 

* * *

Tony waited impatiently in the lobby of the Compound medical wing.  Natasha was sitting in one of the chairs, her face devoid of any emotion as she stared at the floor.  Tony was pacing, sipping coffee to stay awake.  It had been three hours since they arrived and Peter had been taken from him.  The team had been much slower to return.  Steve insisted on checking the building for more kids and Tony hadn't even thought about telling him otherwise.  He and Natasha had taken the escape jet off the quin jet and flown back to the Compound so Bruce could fix Peter as soon as possible. 

"Tony?"  Bruce asked, walking into the room.  Tony's head snapped up and he stopped his pacing.  Natasha slowly lifted her head and Bruce decided not to comment on how red and puffy her eyes looked. 

"Can I see him?"  Tony asked softly.  Bruce gave a small smile and nodded.  He opened the door for Tony and Natasha to rush through then led them down the hall to where Peter was laying.  He had stitches on his arm and a small band-aid over the cut on his cheek.  He was fast asleep and based on all the machines he was hooked up to, his vitals were normal.  That didn't stop Natasha and Tony from running to his side and sitting beside him. 

"Tony, who is this?"  Bruce asked, watching from the end of Peter's bed.  He could tell whoever the kid was, it wasn't just a mission Fury had told him about.  Natasha and Tony seemed equally concerned for the boy. 

"Peter,"  Tony answered, running a hand through Peter's freshly washed curls.  "FRIDAY, tell Pepper that Peter's fine." 

"No, who is he to you?"  Bruce clarified.  "And don't say a mission.  You were about ready to lose your mind and Natasha was crying."  Natasha glared at Bruce but it wasn't harsh enough to make Bruce regret his words. 

"Peter's my son,"  Tony said quietly.  Bruce just nodded.  He'd had his suspicions, he just wanted to hear Tony tell him.  The rest of the team that had just appeared in the doorway, though, weren't nearly as prepared for Tony's announcement. 

"I'm sorry, your what?"  Steve asked.  Tony looked up to see everyone standing near the door.  He sighed and glanced down at Peter before turning to the team. 

"Yeah, Peter's my son,"  Tony told them.  "He went missing a week ago which is why Natasha and I have been gone.  We couldn't have gotten him back without your help, so thanks." 

"You have a son?"  Clint asked.  Tony didn't even pretend he was surprised by Clint not listening to what he said.  Instead, he looked past him where Pepper was sprinting down the hall.  She pushed through the throng of superheroes and over to Tony who was still beside Peter. 

"Oh my gosh,"  she gasped, looking down at Peter's banged up face.  "What did they do to him?" 

"I don't know,"  Tony replied, turning from his team back to his son.  "But we're gonna find out when he wakes up."  Peter shifted and groaned, causing the room to become even quieter than it already was. 

"I don't wanna talk about it,"  Peter told him.  Tony smiled as Peter slowly opened his eyes.  He blinked a couple times then smiled up at his parents. 

"Tough luck, kiddo,"  Tony said softly.  Peter jutted out his lower lip and turned to look at Natasha. 

"Auntie Tasha!"  he exclaimed weakly.  Natasha laughed softly and nodded.  She didn't even care that she was starting to cry in front of the team. 

"Hey, Peter,"  she said.  He turned to look at his parents again but stopped, spotting the Avengers Team in his doorway.  His eyes widened and he looked up at his dad to make sure he was really seeing what he thought he was seeing. 

"Yeah, the Avengers are here,"  Tony confirmed.  Peter looked back at the team.  "They know who you are too." 

"They know I'm Spider-Man?"  Peter asked.  Tony's eyes widened and he shook his head quickly.  Peter clasped his mouth shut but it was too late.  The team had heard. 

"We fought your son?!"  they all yelled. 


	48. Ant Sized Bully Stopper

Scott Lang hadn't been around Peter that much, but he liked to think they were friends.  Peter seemed to enjoy his company well enough and Scott liked not being the only bug on the team (unfortunately, Peter insisted spiders weren't bugs so he was, in fact, the only bug on the team).  Scott knew he wasn't allowed to so much as talk to Peter until Peter was done in the lab with Tony, but that didn't keep him from trying.  Peter was pretty good about getting past him and down to the lab, though, so Tony didn't bother locking Scott in his room when Peter was expected at the Tower.  That's why Scott was suspicious when Peter just stood there while Scott tried distracting him from joining Tony in the lab.  Usually he would have jumped on the ceiling and crawled away, but now he was simply standing there, waiting for Scott to stop talking. 

"What's wrong?"  Scott asked eventually. 

"Nothing,"  Peter replied.  He pointed behind Scott.  "Can I get through?"  Scott stepped to the side and Peter walked by without another word.  Scott watched him leave, confused as to why Peter seemed so out of character.  Maybe he was just becoming one with his inner spider.  He didn't really know how spider humans worked. 

* * *

Peter groaned as his alarm went off.  He really didn't want to go to school.  Flash was being extra rude to him this week—something about it being his birthday, therefore Peter should be happy Flash was even paying attention to him—and Peter just wanted to disappear.  He was still sore from when Flash broke his rib after school yesterday, but he'd healed enough he knew he'd be fine by PE.  Besides, he didn't want to worry May or Mr. Stark with his problems.  They had much bigger, more important things to worry about. 

The ride to school was boring.  Peter had forgotten his earbuds at home so he had to ride the bus without music.  It wouldn't have been that bad, but Ned was sick or something so he had to listen to Flash and his friends laugh extra loud about whatever stupid thing Flash had said.  He managed to make it to school without losing his patience, though, and counted it as a win.  Lunch was what he was really worried about.  Without Ned, he wouldn't have anyone to talk to and Flash was sure to come and bother him about being a loser.  At least MJ would be sitting a few seats down. 

"Hey, loser,"  she said, glancing up from her book only briefly.  Peter nodded at her and unwrapped his sandwich.  He began eating it, thinking about his project with Mr. Stark in the lab.  MJ had finished her lunch and disappeared off who knows where (probably the library) and Peter was nearly finished with his own when he felt something on his shoulder. 

"Psst, Peter,"  a familiar voice said.  Peter turned his head to the right to see a very tiny Scott Land on his shoulder.  He suppressed a scream and glared at the tiny person. 

"What are you doing here?"  he hissed.  Scott sat down on his shoulder and looked around the lunch room. 

"I'm here to protect you from your bully,"  Scott said as if it was obvious.  Peter's eyes widened.  How did Scott find out? 

"I don't have a bully,"  Peter replied.  Scott rolled his eyes.  Peter could try and lie all he wanted, but Scott had made up his mind not to leave until Peter safely made it back to the Tower. 

"Sure you do,"  he said.  "Cassie had one when she was in second grade.  That's how I knew you were being bullied."  Peter groaned frustratedly and glared hard at Scott. 

"Leave me alone before—"  Peter was about to say before he got in trouble, but Flash interrupted him. 

"Talking to invisible friends now, Penis?"  he laughed.  Peter closed his eyes and sighed.  This wasn't going to end well. 

"Don't do anything,"  Peter told Scott.  Flash smirked and Peter realised it really did look like he was talking to himself.  Scott was too small for Flash to see.  "Leave me alone, Flash." 

"But it's my birthday week,"  Flash said for the umpteenth time.  "I can do whatever I want." 

"That's not—"  Peter's eyes widened as Scott grew to his regular height behind Flash.  The cafeteria went quiet then erupted into whispers at the sight of Scott Lang.  Flash thought it was for him, not seeing Scott, and crossed his arms. 

"Meet me outside after last class, Penis,"  Flash demanded.  He turned to leave and froze when he saw Scott Land standing behind him, mask up and a not so pleased look on his face. 

"I'd be happy to meet you outside,"  he replied.  Flash shook his head quickly, trying to take back what he said but failing.  "No, no, I'm sure you'll be able to explain to me why you were bullying my not-son kid person." 

"What?"  Flash asked, staring at Scott in confusion.  Peter mirrored his facial expression, just as confused by what Scott had said as Flash was. 

"You heard me,"  Scott answered.  "Now stop bullying Peter or I'll call all my ant friends in to take care of you." 

"You can't control ants,"  Flash scoffed.  Peter dropped his head onto the table, knowing Scott was definitely going to call his ant friends just to prove Flash wrong.  He did and Flash screamed bloody murder when they started crawling up his legs, begging Scott to stop. 

"Promise you won't hurt Peter?"  Scott asked.  Flash nodded quickly, brushing the ants off him.  Scott called the ants back and they disappeared the same way they had come.  Flash breathed heavily, looking up at Scott.  He raced out of the cafeteria before Scott could threaten him with ants again and Scott turned to Peter. 

"Are you done?"  Peter mumbled, slowly lifting his head from the cafeteria table. 

"Yep!"  Scott smiled.  Peter went back to eating his sandwich.  "Hey, do you happen to have extra food?  Cause I didn't pack a lunch." 

"Who doesn't pack a lunch for school?"  Peter asked, rolling his apple over to Scott.  Scott picked it up and bit into it. 

"Me,"  he replied. 


	49. Announcement

Hey, everyone!So I’m gonna have to end this book soon.I have other projects starting and life is crazy, so I’m just going to finish publishing the remaining 7 chapters I have pre-written then end the book.I’m sorry, but I can’t continue it and move on with projects.I hope you enjoy these last 7 chapters.


	50. Surprise! Your Nephew’s A Spider!

This mission wasn’t going well.  The reminder that Tony had thought it would be an easy one and called Peter out of school for it (he knew Peter wouldn’t focus in class anyway with his spidey sense freaking out on him) loomed in the back of his mind.  He didn’t currently have his eyes on his son, but he had communication with him and at least one other person on the team was sure to see him even if they didn’t know Peter—their nephew—was Spider-Man.  Tony would just have to trust Peter to not do anything stupid while he focused on disassembling the giant robot he was currently riding.  The rest of the team was either evacuating civilians or trying to stop the robot from ruining more buildings. 

“Does anyone have eyes on Spider-Man?”  Tony asked.  He couldn’t help himself.  His son's chatter had gone silent five minutes earlier and he couldn’t think straight. 

“No,”  was the unanimous reply.  Tony felt his heart beat pick up but continued to cut through the robot’s armour. 

“FRIDAY?  What’s going on with Karen?”  Tony asked.  FRIDAY played what Peter was seeing on a small screen in the corner of his visor.  Peter was limping, waving his arms at a civilian.  Tony frowned, knowing he must be yelling but not hearing anything. 

“His communication device seems to be compromised,”  FRIDAY said.  Tony pulled off the robot’s armour, rolling his eyes. 

“Yeah, seems like it,”  he mumbled.  FRIDAY analysed the wires in front of Tony, but she was too slow for him.  He grabbed a handful and yanked, tugging them out.  The robot stopped and dropped to the ground.  Tony barely managed to fly away before it smashed onto the asphalt and went silent. 

“Tony!  Spider-Man’s injured!”  Sam yelled.  Tony looked up and down the streets for Peter, forcing his panic down.  He saw Sam nose diving to the ground and spotted a small bundle of red crumpled under a chunk of cement that had fallen off of broken building. 

“Get him to medical,”  Tony demanded.  Sam dropped down beside Spider-Man but couldn’t see or hear him breathing.  Knowing the kid wouldn’t like it, Sam ripped his mask off.  He himself stopped breathing when he recognised the face under the mask. 

“It’s Peter,”  he gasped.  Tony landed beside the two and FRIDAY scanned him for injuries.  His ribs were crushed and had punctured a lung.  He had a major concussion and his shoulder had been dislocated. 

“God, Peter,”  Tony said, looking down at his son worriedly.  “I told you to be careful.”  He gently picked up Peter and flew him back to the Compound to Bruce, not thinking twice about leaving the team behind. 

* * *

Tony knew the team would come join him in the waiting room as soon as they had finished basic clean up.  Even if they hadn’t just found out Peter was Spider-Man, they would have shown up to support their unofficial team member.  That didn’t mean he was relieved to see them.  For once, he was irritated they had come down to make sure he was okay.  Peter was going to panic when he found out the team knew he was Spider-Man.  It had been something he had tried hard to keep from them, worried they wouldn’t want him to continue as the hero. 

“So now you know,”  Tony said, sitting up and running a hand through his hair.  He crossed his arms and looked up at the team as they slowly filed in. 

“Why didn’t he want to tell us?”  Clint asked.  Tony told them Peter’s fear of them not approving and noted all their upset gazes. 

“Why would we be upset?”  Steve asked. Tony shrugged and said he’d have to ask Peter himself.  “We would be worried, yes, but not upset.” 

“Well, make sure to tell him that,”  Tony said.  Bruce walked in, fidgeting with his hands.  Tony stood up abruptly, asking what had happened. 

“We managed to stabilise him,”  Bruce said.  Tony sighed in relief.  He had been worried Bruce would say there had been complications.  “He’ll be okay; sore, but okay.  For now, only Tony’s allowed in,”  Bruce said to the team.  They protested but he held up a hand to stop them and turned back to Tony.  “He’s still unconscious but should wake up soon.  Might want to call Pepper.” 

“Oh no,”  Tony said, realising he hadn’t told Pepper about Peter.  He followed Bruce down the hall to Peter’s room, calling Pepper.  She answered right away. 

“Tony!  Tell me he’s okay!”  she cried.  Bruce opened Peter’s door and Tony walked inside.  Peter was hooked up to various wires, but he was breathing. 

“He’s okay,”  Tony assured her.  Pepper sighed in relief. 

“I’m halfway home now,”  Pepper said.  She had been in Brasil for a meeting, but of course she had gotten on a jet as soon as she heard Spider-Man had been injured. 

“I’ll keep an eye on him,”  Tony promised.  Pepper had no doubt about that.  After Tony had given her a very thorough report on how Peter was doing, sending photos of his medical charts, machines he was hooked up to, and multiple of Peter sleeping soundly, she hung up.  

Tony sat beside Peter and watched him, waiting for him to wake up.  It took another hour and when the teen finally did open his eyes, he groaned in pain.  Tony stood up and leaned over Peter, smiling down at him.  Peter smiled groggily and his fingers twitched towards his dad’s.  Tony grabbed his hand and squeezed gently. 

“Hey, buddy,”  he said softly.  Peter didn’t say anything, but Tony knew what was on his mind.  “The team knows.”  Peter looked worried and Tony combed his fingers through Peter’s curls.  “They’re just worried.  Not upset in any way.  They just want you to be safe.” 

“Can...”  Peter trailed off weakly, nodding towards the door.  Tony turned around to see the entire team pressed against the windows, waving and smiling at Peter.  Tony rolled his eyes at them. 

“No,”  he told Peter.  Peter frowned, looking up at his uncles and aunt.  “Uncle Bruce only wants me and Mom in here.  Mom’s on her way, by the way.  Very worried,”  he told Peter.  He sat back down beside Peter’s bed and told him all about how he had called Pepper and had to send her photos to assure her he was okay.  Peter smiled and Tony showed him the photos of Peter sleeping. 

“Delete,”  Peter whines softly.  Tony laughed and shook his head. 

“Sorry, kiddo,”  he chuckled.  “Already saved on my lab photo wall.”  Peter rolled his eyes and Tony sighed.  At least his kid was alright.  Even if now he had to deal with the team hovering whenever Spider-Man appeared on missions. 


	51. Christmas With Not-Dad

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait between updates. I went camping and didn’t have service for 48 hours or so. Enjoy!

To Tony’s surprise, Peter was not waking him up at 5AM.  Tony slept until 8:30AM, only waking up because Pepper got out of bed.  He made himself some coffee, putting a candy cane in after Pepper offered it to him.  By 9AM, he was getting a little concerned about Peter.  Surely the kid had to be excited.  It was Christmas morning.  He didn’t seem in a hurry to wake up, though, so Tony called the team in to see if they wanted to come up and spend Christmas morning with them and meet the kid who was (hopefully) going to get up soon.  It had been a last minute sort of thing to have Peter stay with him and Pepper in the Tower.  May had a surprise vacation paid for by her company and she would be gone for two weeks.  She sent Peter to stay with at the Tower since she would miss Christmas and no one objected. 

“Tony!”  Rhodey exclaimed happily, leading the team off the elevator.  They hadn’t hesitated to jump in a car and drive from the Compound once Tony had called them. 

“Hey, buddy!”  Tony smiled, standing up from the couch and giving Rhodey what he liked to call a man-hug and Pepper liked to call and slap on the back. 

“Merry Christmas, Tony,”  Steve said, nodding at him and joining him and Pepper in the living room.  “Hello, Pepper.” 

“Hey, Steve,”  she replied.  Natasha and Pepper caught up while Sam, Steve, and Rhodey talked to Tony.  Clint was back on his farm for Christmas and the only reason Natasha wasn’t was because she had just gotten back from a mission the night before. 

“Got enough presents under your tree?”  Sam asked, motioning towards the giant tree.  Tony grinned when he looked over at the presents.  He’d had his bots wrap them all night so the wrapping wasn’t the best, but at least Tony didn’t have to wrap them all night. 

“Yeah, they're not actually for me,”  Tony said.  Half of the presents were for Peter while twelve were for Pepper, three for each of his team mates, and then three from Pepper to him.  Peter had wrapped two presents the night before and stuck them under the tree: one for Pepper and one for Tony.  Tony knew he would be upset when he discovered he didn’t get the team presents, but he would get over it quickly. 

“Oh yeah?  They for me?”  Rhodey teased.  Tony snorted. 

“You wish,”  he replied.  Rhodey rolled his eyes.  “Half of them are mostly evenly divided between the team and Pep.  The rest are for—” 

“Merry Christmas, Dad!”  Peter screamed, running into the room in his pajamas.  Peter had accidentally called Tony ‘dad’ four months ago and once Tony admitted he liked it, Peter never stopped.  However, he did stop abruptly when he noticed the Avengers sitting in the living room, staring at him in shock and confusion. 

“Hey, kid!”  Tony smiled.  He patted the couch cushion beside him and Peter slowly walked over and sat down.  “Kid, this is the team.  Team, this is... my kid.” 

“You have a kid?”  Steve asked.  Peter awkwardly fidgeted with his hands and looked up at Tony. 

“Sure,”  Tony shrugged, smiling at Peter. “He’s not biologically mine.  I’ve sort of unofficially adopted him.”  The team looked to Pepper for clarification. 

“Peter stays with us when his aunt is gone,”  Pepper said, smiling lovingly at both boys.  They gave her identical grins.  “He comes over after school to help Tony in the lab, stays the night sometimes, and stays for weekend nerd nights.” 

“Not nerd nights!”  Tony objected.  “Just nights where we Marathon movies like ‘Back to the Future’, ‘Star Wars’, and that sort of thing.” 

“Nerd nights,”  Pepper said.  Tony glared at her and she just laughed softly.  “Point is, Peter might as well be our son.” 

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Peter,”  Steve smiled.  Peter gave him a shy smile and nodded. 

“You too, Captain,”  he said.  Peter was introduced to the rest of the team then told to hand out presents.  He did as was told then stopped and stared at the pile of gifts Tony and Pepper had gotten him. Before he could protest, Tony shushed him. 

“Ah!  I burned the receipts!”  he declared, holding out an accusatory finger.  “No take backs.  You have to keep it all.”  Peter glared at him and huffed, looking around at all his presents.  “You get to begin!”  Tony told him happily.  This began their first Christmas with Not-Dad Tony and the Avengers team.  Ned was so totally jealous. 


	52. My, My, Migraine

“I’m pine, May,”  Peter said, trying hard not to squint at his aunt.  May frowned, looking at him with her hands on her hips.  “I mean fine.  I’m perfectly fine.” 

“If you say so,”  she said.  She opened the front door and motioned for him to go out.  “When you decide it’s too much, call me and I’ll come get you.” 

“I won’t, but okay,”  Peter agreed.  He waved goodbye then stumbled down the hall with blurry vision.  He couldn’t believe he was actually going to school with a headache this bad.  However, no school meant no lab afterwards which meant no hanging out with Mr. Stark.  Peter didn’t want to skip out of a day in the lab with Mr. Stark, so he was going to force himself through school then go to the Tower.  He was certain his headache would be gone by then. 

* * *

By second period, Peter could barely sit upright.  Ned had noticed Peter seemed awfully tired and out of it, so he answered all the questions teachers asked Peter.  The teacher would then get after Ned and move on while Peter stared blankly down at his textbook or notebook.  Ned had tried asking him what was wrong, but Peter had just said he had a small headache and was fine.  Ned wasn’t too sure that was the truth, but Peter had nearly collided into someone so he had to help him walk straight down the halls, effectively distracting him from asking Peter more about his headache. 

“What’s next?”  Peter slurred, following Ned down the hall to third period.  Ned grabbed his arm, pulling him out of the way of two girls talking by their lockers. 

“Physics for you, like always,”  Ned said, guiding his friend into the classroom.  He sat Peter in the back and made sure he was all settled before turning to head to his own science class.  Peter stopped him and stared at him in confusion. 

“Where are you going?”  Peter asked, squinting at Ned as if he was trying to stay awake and focus on his face. 

“Biology, like always,”  Ned answered slowly.  Peter nodded and let go of Ned’s arm, watching him in a daze as he left the room. 

Peter didn’t turn his eyes away from the door where Ned had left until his teacher stood in front of him, waving a hand in front of his face.  A few kids snickered as Peter blinked quickly, trying to adjust his focus onto his teacher’s face.  Mr. Amos frowned in concern as he looked down at Peter and asked if he was okay.  It took a couple seconds for Peter to process the words then he nodded. 

“Yeah,”  Peter said slowly.  “I just... just kinda feel... light?”  Peter toppled forward off the stool and onto Mr. Amos. Mr. Amos barely caught him and looked around at the rest of the students. 

“Someone go get the nurse!”  he exclaimed, looking down at Peter who was now unconscious. 

* * *

Tony was bobbing his head to his music, humming along and singing some of the words as he worked up fixing Dum-E.  The bot had managed to break its claw so Tony had to fix it before he could rely on him to do anything successfully (or as successfully as Dum-E could do things).  He groaned in annoyance when his music was turned down and turned to find Pepper.  She wasn’t in the lab, though, so Tony asked JARVIS why his music had gone down. 

“There’s an incoming call from Peter’s school,”  JARVIS said.  Tony froze and told JARVIS to answer. 

“Hello, is this Peter’s emergency contact?”  a male voice asked.  Tony cleaned up the tool he had been using and grabbed his phone off his desk. 

“Yes, what’s happened?”  he asked, getting into the elevator and hurrying down to the garage. 

“Peter passed out in physics,”  the man said.  Tony sprinted to the nearest car and told JARVIS to take him to Peter’s school on autopilot.  “His friend says he had been suffering from a headache earlier on and our nurse hasn’t found anything else to be wrong.  We couldn’t get ahold of his aunt and tried his emergency contact.  Are you able to come pick him up?” 

“Already on my way,”  Tony said, watching out the windshield as JARVIS sped through the streets.  “I’ll be there in twenty minutes.” 

“Thank you,”  the man said.  He hung up and Tony took control of his car, turning down a side street to avoid a stop light in hopes of reaching Peter faster.  

He knew why the kid had gone to school with a headache.  He wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d gone to school with a collapsed lung.  Peter just wanted to work in the lab with him and Tony felt bad about being the cause of Peter’s suffering.  If only Peter didn’t feel like he had to come to the lab all the time, maybe then he would take better care of himself and actually sleep or stay home when he’s sick.  Tony knew that was too much to ask for, though, so he focused on not skidding as he pulled into Midtown High and jumped out of the car.  He ran inside and found Peter staring at the wall ahead of him just outside the front office. 

“Peter?  You okay, bud?”  Tony asked softly, kneeling down in front of him.  Peter blinked then gave him a sloppy smile. 

“Hey, Mr. Stark,”  he said lazily.  Tony smiled back then stood up. 

“I’ll take him,”  he told the office.  The workers just stared at him, so he sighed and found the sign out sheet himself.  Once he had signed Peter out, he helped him stand up and walk to the car. 

“People are gonna be so surprised when they hear you came to pick me up, Mr. Stark,”  Peter said, tripping over a small stone.  Tony kept him upright and helped him climb into the passenger seat.  “I don’t know why.  I talk about you all the time.” 

“Well,”  Tony grinned, turning on the car and leaving the parking lot.  “I am pretty cool.”  Peter shrugged. 

“I guess,”  he agreed.  Tony frowned.  He’d thought the kid adored him.  Maybe he was wrong.  Perhaps Peter hated him.  “It’s just weird because they get all freaky-out-y around you but you’re basically my dad so I don’t know, I guess I’m just used to you.”  Tony glanced at Peter to make sure he’d heard him right. Peter didn’t secretly hate him? 

“Really?”  he asked.  Peter nodded resolutely, looking sure of his decision. 

“Yeah,”  he answered.  “Sometimes when I think to myself, I call you Dad but I don’t say it out loud cause that’s weird and you would think I was crazy.” 

“No, I kind of like it, kiddo,”  Tony said.  Peter smiled. 

“Then I’m gonna call you Dad from now on,”  Peter replied.  Tony smiled at him. 

“Alright,”  he agreed, wondering if Peter would remember the conversation once his confusion and migraine wore off. 

To Peter’s complete and utter horror, he did remember.  He ended up waking up in his room in Stark Tower and groaned when he remembered what he’d said in the car.  After clarifying with JARVIS that he’d actually said it, he wanted to jump off the balcony without his suit on.  However, JARVIS informed him Mr. Stark had saved the audio and renamed his contact to say ‘Son’. 

“Really?”  Peter asked softly, looking up at the ceiling with a small smile.  “I’m glad I didn’t mess everything up.” 

“Me too, kid,”  Tony said, standing in the doorway with medicine.  “Now, how about we talk about why you thought you should go to school with a severe migraine?” 


	53. Avengers 2.0

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a different take on the first Avengers movie. It takes place in the helicarrier.

Peter was pretty sure this was the coolest place he’d ever been.  He didn’t care how worried his parents seemed or how many people in black were running around, he was on a boat turned helicopter thing and he couldn’t keep still.  Pepper had been forced to take him around with Maria in order to let Tony do the things he needed.  Peter hadn’t slowed down at all, running everywhere with Pepper and Maria barely able to keep up. 

“I’m sorry, he’s always like this,”  Pepper told Maria.  She just smiled and waved Pepper off as Peter pressed his face against a window and looked outside. 

“I’m sure I’d be the same way if I was an 8 year old on this thing,”  she said.  Pepper smiled and pulled Peter off the glass, telling him not the smear it.  Peter frowned by was quickly distracted by a scientist working in a nearby lab. 

“Look, Mama!”  he exclaimed, pointing into the lab.  “He’s like Daddy but with a fancy coat!” 

“Yeah,”  Pepper smiled.  She recognised the man immediately.  “That’s Dr. Bruce Banner.” 

“Awesome!”  Peter yelled.  Pepper knew he had no clue who Dr. Banner was, but let him ogle over the scientist anyway.  Soon he moved on and she and Maria followed him down the halls, talking quietly while he explored every inch of the helicarrier. 

* * *

Tony was freaking out.  Not only was New York under attack, but it was under attack by a god.  As soon as SHIELD had called him for help, he had packed up his things, told Pepper to pack up hers and Peter’s, then forced them both onto the flying fortress without second thought.  There was no way he would be leaving them in New York with such an imminent threat.  No, they were safer in the air with a super secret spy agency. 

“You’re Captain America,”  Tony said, pointing at a man in a leather jacket.  The blond nodded and he frowned.  “My dad was practically in love with you bet you knew Howard, huh?” 

“Stark?  Yeah, he was a good friend,”  Captain America said.  Tony looked doubtful.  “I’m Steve, by the way.” 

“I knew that,”  Tony replied.  He turned away from the spangled soldier and towards the familiar red head.  “Natalie,” he said, nodding at her.  Natasha rolled her eyes. 

“Natasha,”  she corrected.  Tony shrugged and walked over to a computer. 

“Same thing,”  he mumbled, turning on the computer. 

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,”  Maria warned, leading Dr. Banner into the room.  Tony grinned and walked over to him, holding out his hand. 

“Dr. Banner!  Huge fan,”  he said.  Dr. Banner smiled and shook Tony’s hand. 

“Likewise, Mr. Stark,”  he replied.  Tony released his hand and smiled. 

“Tony, please,”  he said.  Dr. Banner agreed as long as he called him Bruce and that was settled.  “Where’s Pep?”  Tony asked Maria, fully aware the spy had been showing his wife and son around. 

“Looking around still,”  Maria answered.  Tony nodded and his eyes widened when a large blond man walked into the room wearing a cap and smiling widely. 

“Greetings!”  he said loudly.  He stepped to the side and Tony saw Peter proudly carrying a large hammer with Pepper behind him. 

“Thor,”  Maria said.  The man, Thor, grinning at them all then motioned to Peter. 

“This is my new friend Peter,”  he introduced.  Tony got the vibe that he’d already been introduced to the others, so he didn’t bother introducing himself.  “He possesses the power to rule my planet, though we agreed to wait until he has grown in age.” 

“Which means never,”  Pepper said.  Peter shines but a look from Pepper made him stop.  When he saw Tony, he dropped Thor's hammer and raced over to him. 

“Daddy!”  he screamed, jumping into Tony’s arms.  Tony smiled and picked up the small boy. 

“Hey, squirt,”  Tony said.  Peter hugged him tightly then squirmed out of his arms.  He told Tony all about the helicarrier and only stopped when he spotted the red haired woman that looked familiar. 

“Remember me, Peter?”  Natasha asked. Peter tilted his head to the side then grinned. 

“Auntie Natalie!”  he exclaimed.  He hugged her tightly and she smiled.  “You look different.” 

“I changed my hair,”  she told him.  He nodded as if that made all the sense in the world.  “And my name is Natasha, not Natalie.  That was my fake spy name.” 

“You’re a spy?”  Peter gasped.  Natasha smiled and nodded.  “That’s so cool!”  he wheezed. 

“You think that’s cool?  Captain America is right there,”  she said.  She turned him around and pointed to Steve.  Peter’s face reddened when he saw the superhero smiling at him. 

“He’s real?”  Peter whispered to Natasha.  Natasha laughed quietly and nodded. 

“Yeah, go say hi,”  she said.  She took him over to Steve and introduced the two.  To Tony’s delight, Peter didn’t stay with Steve liked he’d expected.  He said  shy hello then raced over to bury his red face in Tony’s waist.  After that, Pepper took him out to continue exploring so the heroes could talk. 

“You have a son,”  Steve stated.  Tony looked unamused as he nodded and poked Bruce who let out a yelp. 

“Yeah,”  Tony replied, poking Bruce again.  “Is the green guy just a myth?”  He poked Bruce again and the scientist laughed, swatting Tony. 

“No,”  he replied.  “And he’ll beat up both Iron Man and Captain America if they can’t agree.” 

“Fair enough,”  Tony said, pulling his hands behind his back and turning to Steve and Maria.  “What’s the plan, Cap?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it. Only 2 more chapters left until the end!


	54. The Press is Scary

Tony wasn’t sure this was a good idea.  Pepper wanted to go out to eat to celebrate Peter’s first day of pre-school going so well and Peter wanted to go to an adult restaurant now that he was a big kid.  Tony tried to tell them it wasn’t a good idea, but they both gave him matching puppy eyes and Tony had no hope.  He helped Peter get dressed in a nice outfit then changed into a dress shirt and slacks himself.  Pepper met them at the elevator and allowed Peter to escort her to the car.  Tony just smiled as he followed his son and wife to the car then helped Peter strap in.  The ride to Olive Garden (the only “fancy restaurant Tony could think of that might have something Peter would like) wasn’t very long and Tony had made a reservation, so they got to a table quickly. 

“So Peter, tell Daddy all about your day,” Pepper said.  Tony had yet to hear about his son’s first day of school, having come home late.  Peter had already decided he would wait to tell Tony until he was at the restaurant, so Tony was waiting to hear all about it. 

“I made a friend!  His name is Ned and he likes Lego’s too,”  Peter said happily, his crayon scratching across the paper napkin Pepper had given him to draw on. 

“Really?”  Tony asked, smiling as he looked over the menu for something Peter would like after he had refused a kid’s menu (he was a big kid now; he went to school!). 

“Yeah!  Can he come play after school?”  Peter asked, switching his crayons from red to yellow.  “I want to show him my Lego’s.” 

“We’ll have to talk to his mommy and see what she says, but I think that’s okay,”  Tony told him.  Peter beamed across the table at his dad who smiled back softly. 

“Would you like anything to drink besides water?”  the waitress asked Tony.  He glanced beside him at Pepper who shook her head.  They were not drinking with Peter around. 

“Can I have an apple juice, please?”  Peter asked.  The waitress glanced at Peter and smiled. 

“Of course,”  she replied.  He grinned and went back to colouring his napkin.  Tony told her he and Pepper were fine with just water so she left to get the apple juice.  When she returned, she set the juice on the table in front of Peter who happily scooted forward to drink it. 

“Thank you!”  he exclaimed. 

“Of course,”  she replied.  She asked if they were ready to order and they were. Pepper gave her order first then Tony gave his.  Peter patted his dad’s arm worriedly and Tony stopped before giving the waitress Peter’s order. 

“I don’t know what I want, Daddy,”  Peter whispered.  Tony whispered back what he thought Peter would like and he nodded, turning to the waitress.  “I would like a Freddy-Cheney Alfredo.” 

“One fettuccini Alfredo coming up,”  the waitress smiled.  Peter, satisfied that he had order his own meal, went back to drawing on his napkin while his parents talked quietly to each other and the waitress left to get their order ready. 

* * *

Peter happily slid out of the booth, carrying the napkins with all his drawings.  Pepper put them in her handbag and grabbed Peter’s hand.  Tony grabbed Pepper’s hand and the three walked out of the restaurant.  They stopped short when they saw people with cameras standing outside.  Pepper glanced up at Tony worriedly, but he was looking at Peter.  Peter hadn’t seemed to notice their problem and was still bouncing across the tiles.  When he noticed his parents had stopped, he stopped too. 

“What’s wrong?”  he asked, tugging on Pepper’s hand. 

“Alright, buddy,”  Tony said, pulling Peter over to the side of the doors.  “See those people out there?”  Peter looked then nodded before turning back to his dad.  “They want to talk to me and Mama, but they’re also gonna be mean and yell things, so this is what we’re gonna do.  Mama’s gonna carry you out and I’m gonna make sure no one is mean to you.  Just keep your head down and don’t say anything, okay?” 

“Okay,”  Peter said softly, giving the people outside a nervous look.  Tony kissed his forehead and Pepper picked him up. 

“There’s no reason to be scared, alright?”  Tony asked.  Peter nodded and buried his face in Pepper’s hair, effectively hiding his face.  Pepper grabbed Tony’s hand and he gently squeezed it before stepping outside. 

Immediately, the night air lit up in bright flashes.  Pepper flinched when a camera got especially close to her face and Tony pushed it away.  He guided her and Peter through the mob of people, ignoring all the questions and carefully getting them away.  The paparazzi just seemed to gain in size the further they walked, though, and Tony was getting a little irritated.  His irritation changed to anger when he felt Pepper’s hand ripped from his. 

“Pepper!”  he yelled, spinning around to find her.  She had one hand holding Peter up and the other keeping his head down. 

“Tony!”  Pepper yelled back, reaching out for him.  Tony grabbed her hand and didn’t bother shoving people out of his way and he took Pepper and Peter back to car.  Pepper climbed in the back seat with Peter and Tony didn’t wait for them to buckle in before he sped back towards the Tower. 

“Mama!”  Peter cried, refusing to let go of her.  She softly hummed in his ear, rubbing his back and kissing his face gently. 

“Shh, you’re okay, baby,”  she said quietly.  Peter’s body shook as he cried and Pepper held him.  Tony made it to the Tower in record time and helped Pepper our if the back.  He took Peter from her and Peter immediately wrapped his arms around Tony’s neck, continuing to cry. 

“Hey, buddy,”  Tony said softly.  He kissed the side of Peter’s head and Peter pulled back.  He sniffled and wiped his nose with the sleeve of his shirt.  Tony didn’t bother to remind him it was a nice shirt and not the get it dirty. 

“Daddy, they were scary,”  Peter sniffled. Tony nodded and kissed his forehead. 

“I know, kiddo,”  he replied.  He walked Peter into his bedroom and set him on his Iron Man bed spread.  “You’ll get used to it one day.  For now, Mama and I will make sure they leave you alone, sound good?”  Peter nodded. 

“Can I sleep with you and Mama tonight?”  he asked.  Tony nodded and walked over to his dresser.  He pulled out Peter’s favourite pair of pyjamas and helped him change. 

“Alright, let’s go find Mama,”  Tony said, picking up Peter and walking towards the master bedroom. 


	55. Raffle Winners

“Did I tell you who won the raffle?”  Tony asked, walking into the kitchen where Peter was working on frosting a gingerbread star even though it was early November. 

“No,”  Peter replied.  He finished outlining the star then set the white frosting bag down to grab the red one.  Tony grabbed leftover banana bread and set it on the counter to eat.  “I doubt I would care, though,”  Peter said.  Tony shrugged, grabbing a slice of the bread and biting into it.  Pepper really did make the best banana bread.  Especially when she decided to put chocolate chips in it. 

“I think you will,”  Tony told him.  Peter glanced up at his dad who grinned.  “One Mr. Olsen, sponsor to the Midtown High grade 11 class, won it and scheduled a class tour for next week.”  The frosting squirted across the counter as Peter gripped it too tight. 

“What?”  he yelled, setting the frosting down.  Tony nodded.  “He can’t do that, can he?” 

“The winner gets a full tour of the Tower,”  Tony said, wiping some frosting off the counter then eating it.  “There was never a limit on how many people could come. Besides, Mom already confirmed it.”  Peter’s eyes bulged and he looked towards his mom who had just walked off the elevator. 

“Mom!  Are you trying to kill me?”  he yelled.  Pepper looked surprised and confused for just a moment. 

“First of all, don’t yell at me or no Spider-Man for a month,”  she said.  Peter promptly shut his mouth tight and nodded.  “Second of all, you’ll be fine.  Dad has meetings all day except for the end where there’s a meet and greet.  Happy is doing your tour and you know how he is.” 

“But still,”  Peter groaned.  He turned back to his cookies after Pepper gave him a warning look.  At the sight of frosting on the counter, he groaned again and scooped it up on his finger.  He licked it all off and Pepper scolded him. 

“Peter!  Don’t eat it,”  she said.  Peter scooped up the rest of the frosting and licked it happily.  Pepper glared at him. 

“I deserve this,”  he stated, washing his hands off.  “I have to go on a tour of the Tower with my class, so I deserve this.”  Pepper didn’t agree. 

* * *

Peter had made a list of just how many ways today could go wrong.  At the top was his dad skipping meetings (which he always did unless his mom was there to escort him).  Peter had made sure Happy knew not to even look at him during the tour and to make sure he gets a guest badge.  The last thing he wanted was for someone to ask about his full access pass.  Flash was already thinking up ways to embarrass him; Peter didn’t want to make it any easier. 

“Welcome to Stark Tower,”  Happy said monotonously.  Peter saw his classmates turn to their friends and giggle.  Happy looked annoyed with that and grabbed the basket of badges.  “Please take a badge and follow me.  Don’t lose these as they will get you everywhere.”  Kids swarmed Happy and grabbed badges.  Ned grabbed one for himself and one for Peter, handing it to Peter happily. 

“This is gonna be awesome,”  he whispered.  Peter raised an eyebrow at him. 

“You’ve been here before,”  he reminded his friend.  Ned got defensive. 

“Yeah, but never on an actual tour,”  he said as if that was the best thing that could happen to him.  “Only to your house.” 

“Which is the only part not included,”  Peter smiled.  Ned rolled his eyes and elbowed Peter as they followed their class through the security gate.  With each scan of a badge, the gate light went green and allowed the kids through.  Once everyone was through, Happy took them upstairs to the first floor of offices. 

* * *

Peter stayed in the middle of the labs, watching while everyone else ogled over the different inventions on display.  The only labs they were allowed in were the ones that were either empty or held inventions on display.  Happy had been clear they shouldn’t touch anything or an alarm would go off.  Peter wasn’t sure if that was true or not, but he didn’t want to touch anything anyway. 

“Peter, come look at this!”  Ned called out.  Peter walked over to Ned to look at what he was reading about and saw one of the prototype Iron Man gauntlets. 

“Oh, yeah,”  Peter said, glancing at the gauntlet.  “I forgot Dad sent this down here.” 

“Wait, how old is it?”  Ned asked.  Peter looked at it closer than shrugged. 

“Maybe seven suits ago,”  he replied.  Ned looked at him, confused as to how long ago that actually was.  “Maybe a year or so.” 

“Oh,”  Ned said, staring back down at the gauntlet.  Happy called them to leave so they left the display case and walked back over to Happy.  They were about to leave when FRIDAY stopped them. 

“Lockdown protocol has been initiated,”  she declared.  Everyone looked at each other as they heard the doors lock shut. 

“What’s going on?”  people whispered to each other.  Peter shrugged when Ned looked at him.  He pushed his way through the crowd to Happy who looked just as confused. 

“Happy, what’s going on?”  he asked.  Happy held up a finger to silence Peter while he tried calling someone.  No one answered. 

“I don’t know,”  Happy replied, putting his phone away.  “Your dad isn’t answering.  I thought you didn’t want me to even look at you on this tour.”  Peter rolled his eyes. 

“That was before lockdown protocol,”  he said.  Happy shrugged. 

“Ask FRIDAY,”  he suggested.  As FRIDAY only took commands from the Stark’s Happy couldn’t ask her anything.  Peter, on the other hand, could ask her to self destruct the building and she would simply ask for the confirmation code (which he knew after seeing it on his dad’s computer). 

“Hey, FRI?  What’s going on?”  Peter asked, looking up at the ceiling.  Only a few kids nearby looked at him, wondering why he was talking to the ceiling, while the others continued to panic. 

“Someone has been caught trying to steal a displayed invention,”  FRIDAY replied.  Of course, that caused everyone to look around and try to figure out who had tried to steal something.  “Security and Boss are on their way down to investigate.” 

“Wait, can you keep D-Boss away?”  Peter asked worriedly.  Unfortunately, Peter could already hear the group walking down the hall and knew it was too late before FRIDAY even told him. 

“I bet it was Penis!”  Flash yelled out.  Peter’s eyes widened and he glanced back towards Happy.  Happy didn’t seem to notice, trying to call someone again. 

“Flash, why would I try and steal something?”  Peter asked, moving away from the front door to the back by Ned. 

“You’re trying to hide!”  Flash told him.  Peter said he wasn’t, but Flash talked over him.  “You probably tried to steal it to prove you really do know Tony Stark.  Jokes on you, now they’re gonna arrest you!” 

“We’re not arresting anyone,”  Tony said, leading security into the room.  The group of students stepped back quickly, giving Tony room to walk in.  “We’re Just here to figure out who tried to take it and why.” 

“It was him!”  Flash said, pointing to Peter.  “He tried to take it to prove he knows you but that’s not true and we know it.”  Tony glanced at Peter who gave him a small smile. 

“FRIDAY, do a scan of everyone in the room and match it to the person that tried to take my stuff,”  Tony said, still looking at Peter.  Peter wished he would stop.  It was drawing everyone’s attention towards him. 

“Scan complete,”  FRIDAY replied.  Tony asked who it was.  “DNA code on attempted theft matches DNA code of Eugene Thompson.” 

“Who’s Eugene Thompson?”  Tony asked, looking around the students.  Flash was suddenly very quiet.  No one spoke up.  “Eugene, I’m not gonna kill you.  I just want to know why you stole my stuff.” 

“That’s Eugene!”  Flash exclaimed, pointing to Ned.  Ned’s eyes widened but Tony just sighed. 

“He’s Eugene?”  he asked Peter.  Peter nodded and Tony turned to look at Flash. “Why are you taking my stuff?”  he asked.  Flash gulped, looking anywhere but Tony’s face. 

“It’s cool,”  he said lamely.  Tony looked unimpressed. 

“I know,”  he replied.  “But why’d you try to steal it?” 

“I didn’t!  I just touched it!”  Flash exclaimed.  FRIDAY confirmed the object had not, in fact, but shifted in anyway. 

“Alright,”  Tony said.  “Don’t touch my stuff.  FRIDAY?  Please cancel Mr. Thompson’s badge.  Security will escort him to the front.” 

“Wait, no!”  Flash yelled, fighting against the security.  “FRIDAY!  Don’t cancel the badge!” 

“Cancellation complete,”  FRIDAY replied. 

“No!  Make it good again!”  Flash cried.  Tony watched as he pleaded with FRIDAY to fix his badge while FRIDAY didn’t respond. 

“FRIDAY only responds to the Stark’s,”  Happy finally said, grabbing Flash’s arm and guiding him towards the other security officers. 

“But it listened to Penis!”  Flash said.  Tony’s eyes narrowed but Peter held him back. 

“That’s because Peter is my son,”  Tony told him.  Flash looked first confused then concerned.  “Don’t touch my stuff and don’t bully my son.  We clear?” 

“Yes, sir,”  Flash said weakly.  He allowed the officers to take him back downstairs while the rest of the group finished the last half hour of the tour, Tony taking over for Happy then treating Peter’s class to lunch in the Stark Cafeteria.  At least the disaster that had happened was only number twelve on his ‘List of Things That Could Go Horribly Wrong’. 


	56. Announcement

Hey, y’all!Because I have literally no life and come up with fun ideas for this book, I’m just gonna continue it. I deleted the previous chapter that said it was over, so that’s no longer in effect. I can’t promise updates will be quick, but I will update occasionally. Hope that’s fine with you all!

 

 **Update** : I’m going to continue this, but do a book 2 like with my ‘Growing Up’ series because I don’t like it when I have a billion chapters in one book. The new book (which will be exactly like this) is gonna be called ‘No Lie’ and is now out!  Also, comment any requests to give me ideas. Thanks! 


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